Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object Type |
Property File |
Title |
99-101 East Bay Street (Othniel Beale Houses) |
Scope & Content |
Constructed ca. 1740; restored 1932, 1936. Although the houses at 95-101 East Bay Street were rebuilt after the fire of 1740, they seem to have survived the fire of 1778 unscathed. Col. Othniel Beale came to Charleston from Marblehead, Massachusetts, and became a wealthy wharf owner and eventually, after successfully rebuilding the city's harbor fortifications, a member of the Governor's Council. These dwellings, built on the site of a house inherited by Beale's wife Katherine "Hannah" Gale and on a lot Othniel Beale purchased across from his wharf, were originally envisioned as a single family dwelling attached to a tenement. The larger building at 99-101 East Bay Street was built by Beale for his family residence and contains an open central passage on the ground floor dividing two ground-story shop spaces and leading to the outbuildings at the rear. Beale died in 1772 and left to his wife the houses and buildings built on the land inherited from her parents and one half of the profits from the rental of the "house and Store adjoining to the South" at 97 East Bay Street. Both buildings share a common steep gable roof covered with early pantiles and a continuous stuccoed brick facade. In the first rejuvenation of Rainbow Row, 99-101 was restored by Judge and Mrs. Lionel Legge in 1932 with early-18th century style nine-over-nine windows and cargo doors replacing the storefronts. The interior retains its early woodwork including cypress paneling in the front two story rooms and mantels with central keystones. The second-floor wrought-iron balcony came from the now-demolished C.F. Prigge House at 7 Elizabeth Street--hence the initials "CP" visible on the piece. The rear of the Beale House faces a courtyard once leading to warehouses but still bordered by an early kitchen dependency and numerous old walls. This romantic site provided the inspiration for the first stage set for Porgy and Bess. Loutrel Briggs assisted the Legges in reusing this back courtyard and in designing an appropriate period garden. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.) File contains newspaper articles (including DYKYC); FOHG house history (various dates); other narrative histories; house history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; house history from Architectural Guide to Charleston (by Simons & Thomas); historical/chain-of-title research notes; architectural reports; measured drawing (2004) by Louis P. Nelson, et al.; garden research by Hugh Dargan Associates (1991); fragment of wallpaper. See Media link for 1886 Earthquake Damage Assessment. |
Subjects |
Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston Historic gardens--South Carolina--Charleston |
Search Terms |
East Bay Street Rainbow Row Loutrel Briggs garden |
Physical Description |
1 File Folder |
Related Records |
Show Related Records... |
Object ID # |
EBAY.099-101.1 |