Rainbow Row is the name for a series of thirteen colorful historic houses in Charleston, South Carolina. The houses are located north of Tradd St. and south of Elliott St. on East Bay Street, that is, 79 to 107 East Bay Street. The name Rainbow Row was coined after the pastel colors they were painted as they were restored in the 1930s and 1940s. It is a popular tourist attraction and is one of the most photographed parts of Charleston.
John Darlington Newcomer was an American architect whose practice focused on Charleston, South Carolina in the early 20th century.
The Sword Gate House is a historic house in Charleston, South Carolina. Built in stages, the main portion of the house is believed to have been built around 1803, possibly by French Huguenots James LaRoche and J. Lardent. The house replaced a simpler house that was shown on a plat in 1803.
The Col. William Rhett House is a historic, stuccoed brick two-story home at 54 Hasell St., Charleston, South Carolina. It was built in 1712 as the main house for Point Plantation later known as Rhettsbury, lying outside the walled city's limits by Col. William Rhett. The plantation was later folded into the historic Ansonborough neighborhood.
The Benjamin Simons Neufville is a Greek Rival house at 72 Anson St., Charleston, South Carolina. It is one of the largest houses in the Ansonborough neighborhood. The house was built by Eliza Neufville Kohne in 1846 and remained in the family until 1904. The house was purchased by the Historic Charleston Foundation in 1959, which added a brick and wrought iron fence and tore down a later addition to the home, before selling it in 1962. While much of the interior was original, a fire in the 1950s resulted in much of the first floor of the home requiring extensive repairs.
The Samuel Wainwright House is a 3+1⁄2-story, pre-Revolutionary, Georgian Charleston single house at 94 Tradd St., Charleston, South Carolina. The house has tall windows on the first two floors with smaller windows on the third and dormers on the roof. The house has quoined corners and a modillioned cornice.
The People's Building at 18 Broad St. was Charleston, South Carolina's first "skyscraper", erected in 1910 and 1911 at a cost of $300,000. It was designed by a Swedish architect, Victor Frohling of Thompson & Frohling, of New York and built by both Simons-Mayrant of Charleston and also the Hadden Construction Co. Construction began on December 7, 1909. The pile driving so weakened a nearby residence that the People's Building & Investment Co. had to buy it. The structure is a steel framed building with iron framing whose engineer was D.C. Barbot. Work continued throughout early 1910. The construction of the building became a popular spectacle for residents to watch. An American flag was placed atop the building's frame when it was topped out in late April 1910. The owners of the building considered installing a rooftop garden to take advantage of the superb views from the building.
The historic Francis Marion Hotel at 387 King St., Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the tallest buildings in Charleston. The hotel, named for the Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion, was built by local investors at a cost of $1.5 million from plans by noted New York architect William Lee Stoddart. The hotel was built in 1924 by the Marion Square Realty Co., a group headed by former mayor of Charleston T.T. Hyde. The original ownership group formed on March 13, 1920. When the hotel opened on February 7, 1924, the Francis Marion was the largest and grandest hotel in the Carolinas.
The Joseph Floyd Manor is a public housing facility designated for elderly and disabled citizens. It is in the upper peninsula area of Charleston, South Carolina. The building is located at 2106 Mt. Pleasant Street, on the northwest corner of Mt. Pleasant St. and King St. The 12-story building was originally known as the Darlington Apartments and was designed by William G. Lyles, Bissett, Carlisle & Wolff of Columbia, South Carolina. The facility has 156 single occupancy rooms.
The Ashley House, one of the tallest buildings in Charleston, South Carolina is a fourteen-story condominium building on Lockwood Blvd. in Charleston, South Carolina. When built, it was the tallest apartment building in the city.
The Patrick O'Donnell House is the largest example of Italianate architecture in Charleston, South Carolina. It was built for Patrick O'Donnell (1806-1882), perhaps in 1856 or 1857. Other research has suggested a construction date of 1865. Local lore has it that the three-and-a-half-story house was built for his would-be bride who later refused to marry him, giving rise to the house's popular name, "O'Donnell's Folly." Between 1907 and 1937, it was home to Josephine Pinckney; both the Charleston Poetry Society and the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals were formed at the house during her ownership.
The John McKee House is a c. 1796 house at 44 King St., Charleston, South Carolina. The house follows a traditional Charleston single house layout with a small stair hall separating two main rooms per floor, one toward the street and one toward the rear of the property. The brickwork suggests that a door originally entered the house from King St., but it was replaced with a window at some point. Its first known owner was John McKee who died without heirs, leaving the house to the Methodist Episcopal Church. When the church divided in 1845, the house became the joint property of three black churches: Centenary, Wesley, and Old Bethel. The Methodist Episcopal Church rented the property out until 1915. In 1929, Mrs. Victor Morawetz of Fenwick Hall, Johns Island, bought the house.
The James Simmons House is a late 18th-century house at 37 Meeting Street, Charleston, South Carolina which was, at one time, the most expensive house sold in Charleston. It was likely built for James Simmons, a lawyer. By 1782, it was home to Robert Gibbes, a planter. Louisa Cheves, a prominent antebellum writer, was born at the house on December 3, 1810. In 1840, Otis Mills, the owner of the Mills House Hotel, bought the house for $9,000. In October 1862, during the Civil War, the house was loaned to Gen. Pierre Beauregard, who used the house as his headquarters until August 1863. In 1876, Michael P. O'Connor, later a member of Congress, bought the house.
The Rev. Robert Smith House is a pre-Revolutionary house at 6 Glebe St., Charleston, South Carolina which is used as the official residence for the president of the College of Charleston. The present use is an odd twist of history; Rev. Robert Smith, whose name has been given to the house, was the first Episcopal bishop of South Carolina and was also himself the first president of the College of Charleston.
The Williams Mansion is a Victorian house at 16 Meeting St., Charleston, South Carolina. The mansion is open for public tours.
The Louis DeSaussure House is an antebellum house at 1 East Battery, Charleston, South Carolina. The house was designed and built for Louis DeSaussure by William Jones and completed in late 1859. The three-story, masonry house follows a traditional side hall plan; two adjacent parlors are fronted with piazzas along the south side while a stair hall runs along the north side with a front door facing east onto East Battery. In 1865 during the Civil War, the house was damaged when evacuating Confederate forces blew up a large cannon at the corner of East Battery and South Battery; a piece of the cannon was lodged in the attic of the house. The balconies on the East Battery façade and window ornaments were installed when the house was restored after the earthquake of 1886 by Bernard O'Neill, who bought it in 1888. The house was used by the military to house Navy officers during World War II and was later converted into apartments. The carriage house for 1 East Battery was later subdivided into a separate house known as 2 South Battery.
The James Ferguson House at 442 King St., Charleston, South Carolina, is an antebellum house dating to at least 1840. As of 2000 it was being used as a restaurant.
The Fort Sumter House is a seven-story condominium building located at 1 King St., Charleston, South Carolina, originally built as the Fort Sumter Hotel. Work began on April 1, 1923, and guests were accepted starting in April 1924, but the formal opening was on May 6, 1924. The hotel cost $850,000 to build. The 225-room hotel was designed by G. Lloyd Preacher of Atlanta, Georgia.
Vanderhorst Row in Charleston, South Carolina is a three-unit residential building built in 1800 by Arnoldus Vanderhorst, a governor of South Carolina (1792-1794). Each unit is four floors. The units at the north and south end of the range have doors along East Bay Street on the front in addition to doors on the sides of the unified building and exits to the rear. After the Civil War, the use of the building changed, and commercial purposes were installed. The building fell into disrepair before it was bought in 1935 by Josiah E. Smith for a restoration which cost $30,000. The architect for the restoration of the building was Stephen Thomas. The three units rented for $1500 to $1800 a year after the work was completed. As restored, each unit had a living room, dining room, kitchen, breakfast room, and pantry on the first floor; a drawing room, bedroom, and bath on the second; two more bedrooms on the third; and servants' rooms in the attic. For many years after the restoration of the building, the central unit was rented by the Charleston Club for its headquarters; the club relocated to 53 East Bay Street in 1958.
The Capers-Motte House is a pre-Revolutionary house at 69 Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina. The house was likely built before 1745 by Richard Capers. Later, the house purchased and became the home of Colonel Jacob Motte, who served as the treasurer of the colony for 27 years until his death in 1770. His son, also named Jacob Motte, married Rebecca Brewton, daughter of goldsmith Robert Brewton and sister of Miles Brewton, a wealthy slave trader.
