Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object Type |
Property File |
Title |
101 Rutledge Avenue (William Stevens Smith House) |
Scope & Content |
Constructed ca. 1796-1804. This substantial 3½ story stuccoed-brick single house retains its original street-level door, which accesses an office space as it has for many decades. The rusticated arched piazza screen provides access to an inner wooden staircase, rising to the principal level of the piazza. A plantation-owning politician and attorney, William Stevens Smith, a grandson of Josiah Smith, the builder of 7 Meeting Street, constructed this house on land he believed belonged to his wife but actually was held by her uncle Benjamin Waring. He received title after lamenting to a court of equity that it was "inconvenient" to allow a large proportion of his property to remain vested in a house he had "declined using as a family residence." He sold the property in 1804 without ever having lived here. Passing through a variety of planters and merchants, the dwelling eventually was owned by William Laughton, a rice and cotton merchant from 1846-77. Laughton probably made most of the Greek Revival changes to the house. Late-Italianate changes include window heads and two-over-two windows, which were probably made by Dr. Francis McDow. McDow was acquitted for the murder of Frances Warrington Dawson, who was shot while in the basement of this house. The interior includes a mix of Neoclassical wainscoting, doors, and staircase, with some mantels in the late-Victorian style. Several Greek Revival ceiling medallions are in the drawing room and dining room. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.) File contains newspaper article (1982 DYKYC); draft FOHG house history (2007); house history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston (1984); excerpt from 62 Famous Houses of Charlestonl; Hurricane Hugo damage survey (pdf). |
Subjects |
Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston |
Search Terms |
Rutledge Avenue Harleston Village |
Physical Description |
1 File Folder |
Related Records |
Show Related Records... |
Object ID # |
RUTLEDGE.101.1 |