LOOKING at Charleston ©
Looking at Charleston is a unique perspective of the homes, churches, and buildings on the peninsula. Rather than the standard historical tour, it provides a glimpse into how these buildings were built, by whom, and with what purpose in mind. Of particular note is that so many of them were designed by “gentlemen architects” during the period before architects received formal training in the United States. Read more ~>RECOMMENDED
Digital Nation: a PBS video. If you have kids or are yourself knee-deep in email, messaging, cell phone, and computer use, you will benefit from this insightful video about the pervasiveness of technology in our lives. There is no conclusion on the matter, but this video casts light on it and gets you thinking. ~> watch the video
Looking at Charleston
This column features residential, public, and church architecture on the Charleston peninsula. It is based on research that architectural historian Gene Waddell has amassed since 1976. Unlike most architectural scholars, Gene looks at buildings not from the point of view of their social history, but in terms of the buildings themselves: their sources of design, design features, materials, and methods of construction—all the things that the architects who designed them had to know when they conceived them. This unique perspective and wealth of information should be invaluable to residents and tourists—anyone who enjoys meandering downtown and gazing with a (very) well informed eye. Copyright Notice: all material in this series is the exclusive property of Gene Waddell. If you want to reuse any of it in any form, you must get permission in writing from chastoday@charlestontoday.net.
James Louis Petigru Law Office
8 St. Michael’s Alley • 1848-1849. James Louis Petigru, a lawyer who lived on Broad Street, hired Edward Brickell White to design an office large enough for a partner, clerks, and law library (which is now in the Library of Congress). This building replaced an existing law office that had been on the site. White, one of... Read »
Ann Peacock House
96 Church Street • c. 1760 Ann Peacock was prevented from building against the back wall of Mary Cooper’s house at 94 Church. She decided then to build her house on the opposite corner of her lot, a choice that enabled the eventual owner of the corner lot behind hers to build against her back... Read »
Mary Cooper House
94 Church Street • c. 1760 The left side of this house is a largely blank wall with only two stair windows, but Mary Cooper could be certain that this back wall would not be tied into another house. Consequently it was given a dentil cornice and string course like the ones on the street... Read »
Alexander Christie House
92 Church Street • c. 1809 The site for this house, which is wide enough to have accommodated a double house (like 87 Church Street, the Heyward-Washington House), shows that single houses were not necessarily preferred because of the narrowness of their lots. Actually, the original lots in the city were about 100 feet wide, which... Read »
Cabbage Row (Catfish Row)
89-91 Church Street • c. 1783 This row is a late but major example of a pair of houses with a central arcade and well-preserved, commercial ground floors. The row is similar to 83-85 Church Street, but is three-storied rather than two. The name “Cabbage Row” comes from cabbages and other vegetables that were sold here... Read »
Daniel Heyward (Washington) House
87 Church Street • c. 1770–1772 This house was constructed by Daniel Heyward, the father of Thomas Heyward, a signer of the Declaration of Independence who grew up here. He acquired the property in 1770 and his widow inherited it in 1777. A coin dated 1772 found within a window frame provides an approximate date... Read »
John Lloyd House
90 Church Street • c. 1760. This single house and the three single houses to the north of it at nos. 92–96 Church Street are examples of the best constructed single houses of the second half of the 18th century. These outstanding examples are typical in being of brick, three-stories, and three-bays wide with... Read »
Isaac Mazyck House
86 Church Street • c. 1783 The 1778 fire destroyed, for a second time, nearly all of the eastern half of Charleston which had been within its original walls. No building survived on the east side of Church Street from no. 90 through no. 54. Soon after the Revolutionary War ended, this distinctive house on Church... Read »
Blake Tenements
2–4 Courthouse Square • 1760–1772 The site of the District Courthouse at the corner of Meeting and Broad Streets has only one of the four squares that were planned for this intersection when the town was initially laid out. At the northwest corner of the square, in the alley next to the courthouse, is a pair... Read »
William Hendricks Tenements
83–85 Church Street • 1749–1751 This pair of buildings shares an open passage that leads to the entrances to the dwellings above. On the street side are the original shop fronts. (Notice also the difference between the two doors: the one at No. 83 is more narrow, has a different transom window above it, and... Read »
