Villa Marianna, designed by Danish architect and painter Mogens Tvede for Frank Miller Gould, grandson of railroad tycoon Jay Gould, was inspired by Spanish architecture and features courtyards, a formal garden, a fountain, and a tower. Built on Jekyll Island, where Gould spent his youth, the home later served as the headquarters for the Jekyll Island State Park Authority from 1950 to 1995. It is now an event venue.
Faith Chapel was constructed in 1904 for the exclusive Jekyll Island Club members. The Shingle Style church was built for interdenominational use, replacing Union Chapel, which was moved to the area where the Black employees lived at the Jekyll Island Club. The Jeykll Island Club was later purchased by the State of Georgia and opened to the public.
The chapel is known for its stained glass windows. The Stickney Memorial Window was created by noted stained glass designers, Maitland Armstrong and Helen Armstrong, and dedicated in 1905. It was installed in the memory of Joseph Stickney, a founding member of the Jekyll Island Club.
The second window, known as the Bourne Memorial Window, was crafted by renowned stained glass artist Louis Comfort Tiffany. Tiffany visited Jekyll Island multiple times, and the Jekyll Island Club members commissioned him to create this window in memory of Frederick Bourne, the Club’s former president who passed away in 1919. It depicts, “David Set Singers Before the Lord.” The window was installed in 1921 and underwent complete restoration in 2021.
Animal grotesques accompany the beauty of the stained glass windows. There are six inside the chapel. On the outside of the building, rain spouts are gargoyles inspired by the ones at Notre Dame Cathedral.
Built in 1904 for Dr. George Frederick Shrady (the former physician for General Ulysses S. Grant) and his wife Hester, this 20-room Italian Renaissance-style cottage was later purchased in 1925 by Walter B. James, the President of the Jekyll Island Club, who named it “Cherokee.” The house is also known as the Shrady-James House. Renovated in 2001, it now serves as a hotel.
Built in 1743 by Major William Horton, the tabby house is one of the oldest homes in the state. Christophe DuBignon returned to Georgia to escape unrest in France. By 1800 he owned the whole island. The DuBignon family remained in the home for decades. Family members and two staff members from the Jekyll Island club are buried in the cemetery across the street.
