Archive Record
| Object Type | Property File |
| Title | 60-64 Broad Street (Confederate Home a/k/a Home for Mothers, Widows and Daughters of Confederate Soldiers of Charleston) |
| Scope & Content |
Constructed ca. 1800; additions ca. 1835 and ca. 1900-10; earthquake repairs 1887. This large complex stretches through the block from Broad to Chalmers Street and is a 19th century amalgamation of several different properties and buildings. On the site of a house formerly leased to a royal lieutenant governor, the core of the front portion was built by Gilbert Chalmers, a well-to-do house carpenter, as a double tenement. Inherited by Chalmer's daughter and her husband, Gov. John Geddes of Ashley Hill Plantation, the building housed President James Monroe when he spent several weeks in Charleston in 1819. Forced by debt to sell, Geddes conveyed this building in 1825. By 1834 the Geddes house had passed to Angus Stewart who converted it to the Carolina Hotel. Subsequent additions to the rear were later connected to an early-19th century tenement at 23-25 Chalmers Street, the western side of which had served as the U.S. District Court from 1845 to 1860. It was here at the time of South Carolina's secession from the Union that District Judge Andrew W. McGrath took off his robes and suspended the Federal Court in South Carolina. An early-19th century doctor's office, adapted to modern office use and almost entirely reconstructed after Hurricane Hugo, stands on the southeastern edge of the site at 66 Broad Street. In 1867 the entire property was leased to Mrs. Amarinthea Yates Snowden and a group of 9 women, who organized the Home for Mothers, Widows and Daughters of Confederate Soldiers of Charleston. By 1880 the home housed several hundred aged or infirm widows and a teacher's college for 52 women. After heavy damage in the earthquake of 1886, repairs were completed and the Broad Street facade was remodeled in the Second Empire style with mansard slate roof and pressed metal dormers and cornices. Of particular interest from the street are the original wrought-iron balconies on the second floor and the mid-19th century storefronts below. Eight files contain documentation of the easement on the property (interior and exterior) including related correspondence; correspondence from SC Dept. of Archives and History about the National Register nomination; annual inspection reports, requests for alterations, and correspondence and legal documents related to the management of the property; paint samples; invitation for bids and proposals for the building's facade rehabilitation and roof repairs; historic preservation grant handbook, proposals, applications; disbursements/reimbursements; FOHG house histories; other narrative histories; articles from newspaper (including DYKYC) and other publications (including Preservation Progress 1994); building history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; historical/chain-of-title research including plats and deeds and biographical information on John Geddes, Gov. Magrath; page with early 20th century photo from City of the Silent (Ted Ashton Phillips); page with 1949 photo from Charleston Grows (Carolina Art Association); miscellaneous images; Confederate Home and College brochure; Confederate Home Board event invitations; documents relating to HCF's involvement with the repair of the building, including financial assistance. See Easement Documentation Photo Files for easement donation photographs (Exh. B to Deed of Conservation Easement) and Covenant/Easement Inspection Photo Files for inspection photography. |
| Subjects |
Confederate Home and College (Charleston, S.C.) Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston |
| Search Terms |
Broad Street Civic Square Easement Property Woman-operated business |
| Physical Description |
1 Gift Folder 6 Management Folders 1 History/Miscellaneous Folder |
| Related Records | Show Related Records... |
| Object ID # | BROAD.060-64.001 |