Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object Type |
Property File |
Title |
18-22 Broad Street (People's Building) |
Scope & Content |
Constructed, 1910-11. Victor Frohling, architect. Mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett, while president of the People's Bank, spearheaded the construction of The People's Building as Charleston's first skyscraper. It stands on the site of a late 18th-century brick double tenement, an indication of the city's early-20th century progress. Critics then, as now, debated the effect of the 8-story structure on the skyline of the original city. Designed by the New York architect Victor Frohling, the largely yellow brick building has granite rustication on the ground and mezzanine stories and terra cotta ornamentation, now painted with a metallic finish, at the top floor, although a later owner removed the surmounting entablature. The columned portico and shuttered ground-story window openings, the People's Building retains a Charleston flavor, while the rest of the structure hints at the contemporary national influences. The marble lions flanking the entry, brought from an estate in Massachusetts in the 1950s, are considered landmarks in their own right and were saved from removal by the city's Board of Architectural Review in the 1990s. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.) This building has both interior and exterior easements on it. Files contain documentation of both of the easements on the property including related correspondence; Part I certification (National Register); annual inspection reports; requests for alteration; correspondence and documentation supporting the rehabilitation of the building and in relation to the management of the property; color photocopies of exterior walls and interior rooms; various HCF Community Planning Committee and Executive Committee reports and minutes relating to 18 Broad Street; historical research by Sarah Fick including building timeline and usage summary; newspaper articles 1909-2003 and 1972 DYKYC), Sanborn maps, property description from deed, documentation related to the 1936 purchase, photocopies of photographs; house history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; document entitled "Peoples Building: Design Guidelines" (1990, unattributed); "A Survey and Analysis Report for the Peoples Office Building" (1998); advertisements for the sale of the property; graduate student report "The People's Building: Who Knew?" (Tom Wise, 1996). Also available (pdf only) are correspondence and legal documents from 1999 zoning ordinance litigation; See Easement Documentation Photo Files for easement donation photographs (2000) (Exh. B to Deed of Conservation Easement). |
Subjects |
Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston |
Search Terms |
Broad Street Easement Property |
Physical Description |
1 Gift Folder (Interior Easement) 1 Gift Folder (Exterior Easement) 1 Management Folder (Interior Easement) 2 Management Folders (Exterior Easement) 1 History/Miscellaneous Folder 1 History/Miscellaneous Folder containing pdfs on CD of correspondence and legal documents pertaining to zoning ordinance lawsuit |
Related Records |
Show Related Records... |
Object ID # |
BROAD.018-22.001 |