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The Architecture of Downtown Charleston Homes

By: Staff Editor, PremiereCharleston.com

06/23/2008

The first 50 years of development in Charleston, SC was shaped by a fort and its walls that sat on the east side of the peninsula against the Ashley River. The city sat on the outer fringes of the English Empire and early residents build the fortifcations to protect themselves against the threat of invading Spanish from the south and or wild, marauding pirates from the sea. While most of the early building with in the walled city have disapeared, the structure of early Charleston helps us understand later development.

In the late 1600's much of the land that belonged the early settlers was voluntarily surrendered to provide provide twelve thousand acres that would become the bulk of downtown Charleston. Residents were granted lots, and each grantee of these first lots was required to build a house of two stories in height and at least 30 feet by 16 feet in dimension.

As lots of land became established home sites, and commercial buildings the town really started to take shape. While the threat of attack remained the walls and other fortifications were slowly removed. By 1740, even the most heavily fortified region of the city on the southern tip - a low beach called "Oyster Point" saw the walls taken down. The early dwellings inside the walls were often two rooms per floor in simple aysmetrical plans. Some evidence of this remains in the blocks of Tradd Street between Meeting and East Bay Streets.

In 1740 a devastating fire destroyed most of the town including nearly 300 dwellings. Rebuilding used some of the same plans as the early development, but in other areas the construction of "single" houses emerged. This was quickly followed by the construction of a few double-pile Georgian houses by wealthier people. Examples of this change can still be scene on Church and Tradd Streets.

Another fire destroyed the city in 1778. Rebuilding was once again necessary and the emergence of new architectural designs was apparent. The modern shape of Charleston, its home and arctecture would evolve the the century to come. Most of downtown Charleston home date to this period, with the exception of homes built in neighborhoods that were  constructed on reclaimed land along the Ashley River.

An Overview of Architechtural Home Styles by Time Period

1920-1940 ART DECO Features
Narrow Windows
Decorative Panels
Flat Roofs
Multicolored Bands

1690-1740 COLONIAL
Features
T-Shaped Chimney
Hipped Dormer
High Pitched Roof (Flared Eaves)
Cornice
Beaded Weatherboard
Central Passage, Double Pile Plan (Asymmetrical most common)

1790-1820 FEDERAL
Decortive Friezes
Balustrade
Elliptical Transon or Fanlight
Belt Course
Low Pitched Roof
Ironwork Balconies
Spiral Stair
Bowed Projector or End
9,10,11 Geometric Rooms

1700-1790 GEORGIAN
Oval Lights
Modillions
Triangular Pediment
Hipped Roof
Box Chimney
Belt Course
Columned Portico
Raised Foundation or Basement
Central Hall Plan

1840-1885 GOTHIC REVIVAL
Lancet Windows
Pointed Arches
Tracery
Finials or Pinnacles
Crenellation
Buttresses

1820-1875 GREEK REVIVAL
Pediment
Entablature
Column
Tympanum
Cornice
Frieze
Architrave
Capital
Shaft
Triglyph
Metope
Large Heavy Columns
Fluting

 

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