#5 in Savannah · Boutique Inn · Columbia Square
Kehoe House
An adults-only 1892 mansion on Savannah's quietest square, with the city's most photographed ironwork.
An adults-only 1892 mansion on Savannah's quietest square, with the city's most photographed ironwork.
The Kehoe House is Savannah's most atmospheric small inn: an adults-only 13-room mansion built in 1892 on quiet Columbia Square, wrapped in cast-iron verandas made at owner William Kehoe's own foundry. It is the pick for couples who want a historic, personal bed and breakfast with made-to-order breakfast and evening wine, not a full-service hotel.
"Thirteen rooms, one of the prettiest squares in Savannah, and a welcome that a 300-room hotel cannot buy. Book it for the house, not the amenities."
HotelsForKings aggregate 9.1/10, scored on Room & Design, Service, and Location. One editorial opinion, not a user-review average. See our methodology.
Stay at the Kehoe House if you want the most intimate, most characterful place to sleep in Savannah's Historic District and do not need a hotel's amenities to feel looked after. The house is an 1892 red-brick mansion on Columbia Square, built for William Kehoe, who ran a Savannah iron foundry, and its elaborate cast-iron verandas, columns, and railings were cast at his own works, which is why the ironwork is far grander than a private home of the period would normally carry. Today it operates as an adults-only bed and breakfast of 13 rooms within the Historic Inns of Savannah Collection, and the whole experience is scaled to that: you are a guest in a grand house, not a keycard in a lobby.
The draw for a romantic trip is the combination of setting and service. Columbia Square is one of the leafiest and least trafficked of Savannah's squares, so the house sits in genuine calm rather than on a tourist thoroughfare, and the 13-room scale means the staff learn your name and your preferences quickly. The inn was named a TripAdvisor Best of the Best hotel in Savannah for 2025, which tracks with what guests consistently praise: the personal attention, the breakfast, and the sense of staying somewhere with a real story rather than a branded one.
Book one of the upper-floor rooms on the Columbia Square side for the light and the veranda views. Because this is a converted 1892 mansion, no two rooms are identical: they range in size and shape with the architecture, some tucked under the roofline and some in the grander former principal rooms, all furnished with antique-style wood furniture, decorative fireplaces, hardwood floors, and chandeliers. The rooms that overlook the square, with access to or a view of the wraparound veranda, are the ones worth requesting by name.
The practical advice with a historic house is to be specific at booking. If you want a larger room, a particular bed size, or the square view, ask for it directly rather than accepting the default category, because the variation between rooms is real and the best ones go first on weekends and during the spring azalea season. For a milestone stay, mention the occasion when you book; a 13-room inn has the flexibility to do something thoughtful that a large hotel rarely manages.
Time your afternoon around the parlor: the Kehoe serves afternoon tea and desserts, then wine and hors d'oeuvres in the evening, and both are the most sociable moments in the house. Come back from the squares by late afternoon rather than rushing straight out to dinner, and let the parlor be part of the stay.
The Kehoe House sits on Columbia Square in the northeast of the Historic District, one of the quieter and more residential of Savannah's famous squares. That location is its own argument: you are a short, shaded walk from the busier squares, the riverfront, and the restaurants around Broughton Street, but you sleep somewhere calm, under live oaks, away from the foot traffic of Ellis or Chippewa Square. For couples who want to experience the Historic District on foot, it is close to a perfect base.
Everything that makes Savannah worth the trip is within walking distance from here. Forsyth Park and its fountain are a pleasant stroll south through the squares, the antique shops and galleries cluster nearby, and the district's best restaurants are a walk rather than a drive. The house has the additional, well-earned reputation as one of Savannah's most storied haunted buildings, which some guests seek out and others simply enjoy as part of the atmosphere; either way it is a talking point rather than a drawback.
The Kehoe House is an inn, not a hotel, and its charms come with the constraints of a small historic property.
The Kehoe House sits at #5 in our Savannah ranking, and its closest peers are the city's other historic small properties and its design-forward boutiques. Choose between them on what you want the stay to feel like: a domestic-scale inn, a garden-suite retreat, a grand mansion with a restaurant, or a modern boutique with a rooftop. Here is how the shortlist lines up.
| Hotel | Style | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Kehoe House | 1892 mansion inn, 13 rooms | Quiet square, personal service |
| The Gastonian | 1868 townhouse inn, 17 rooms | Garden suites, near Forsyth Park |
| Mansion on Forsyth Park | Grand hotel with restaurant | Amenities and an art collection |
| Perry Lane Hotel | Design-forward boutique | Rooftop pool, modern rooms |
Choose the Kehoe for the quietest square and the most personal welcome; choose The Gastonian if a private garden suite near Forsyth Park appeals more, the Mansion on Forsyth Park if you want a full-service hotel with a restaurant, or the Perry Lane Hotel if a rooftop pool and modern design matter more than period character. All four are walkable to the heart of the Historic District.
A ranked shortlist, a special offer worth booking, and the overpriced stay to skip. Straight from the editors.