Archive Record
Images
Metadata
Object Type |
Property File |
Title |
128 Tradd Street (Humphrey Sommers House) and Open Space, 130 Tradd Street |
Scope & Content |
Constructed ca. 1765; additions 1790-1800, 1840s. Charleston's most noted 18th century builder-contractor constructed this L-shaped wooden dwelling on a raised masonry foundation on a point overlooking "Councellair's Creek" (now long filled) and the marshes of the Ashley River in 1765. Immigrating to Charleston from the west of England as a "slater," Humphrey Sommers prospered with commissions, one of which was as chief subcontractor of St. Michael's Church. Sommers fully utilized some of the best work of independent craftsman carvers, on the interior of the house, which he built on a lot that may have been acquired through the dowry of his wife Susanna. The interior woodwork, particularly the parlor chimney piece with extensive rococo style carving, has become famous in recent years and was reproduced in the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Winston Salem, North Carolina, as a hallmark of a Charleston room. The exterior of the house retains its original pedimented window surrounds with console supported sills, weatherboard siding, wide entablature with a modillioned cornice, and a bellcast slate roof. A central projection from the east elevation provides a stair hall on the interior and contains an elaborate Venetian (Palladian) window. A portico may have graced the south elevation, but a Tuscan-columned piazza was added in the 19th century. Sommers rose to be a member of the Commons House of Assembly by 1762 and achieved sufficient wealth to leave a substantial estate of town and country property at his death in 1789. Judge Edward Frost purchased 128 Tradd Street in 1841, and the house has remained in the hands of his descendants ever since. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.) Three files contain documentation of the easement on the property including related correspondence; annual inspection reports; FOHG house histories (1980s?, 2001, 2004); brief narrative history (Stoney, 1967); house history from HCF Landmarks in Use newsletter (1995); newspaper article (1975 DYKYC); house history from Architectural Guide to Charleston (by Simons & Thomas); Preservation Progress article about restoration (1965); "Memories of 128 Tradd Street" (Ellen Parker, great aunt of homeowner Telfair Parker, 1951); photocopy of plat "Plan to Subdivide No. 128 Tradd Street" (May 13, 1999). See No easement donation photographs (Exh. B to Deed of Conservation Easement) or inspection photographs on file (see Easement Manager). |
Subjects |
Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston |
Search Terms |
Tradd Street Easement Property Eighteenth-Century Expansion |
Physical Description |
1 Gift Folder 1 Management Folder 1 History/Miscellaneous Folder |
Related Records |
Show Related Records... |
Object ID # |
TRADD.128.1 |