At the corner of Broad and East Bay streets in #Charleston #SC, the details of the scenic 1853 building are exquisite and eye-catching. The building was created as a bank by the same man that many believe Margaret Mitchell fashioned her character of Rhett Butler in “Gone With The Wind”, whose real name was George Alfred Trenholm. Trenholm’s building was in use as a bank well into the 21st century, when it was at last converted into a restaurant and condominiums. But the classic details still adorn the old bank and provide a glimpse of what customers saw when entering more than 150 years ago. <img.src=”Charleston Architecture” alt=”Number One Broad Street
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Category: Curiosities
Misplaced Markers
Many of the #historic grave stones in the burial ground of the First Baptist Church in #CharlestonSC are leaning up against the north wall of the property – and there’s an interesting reason why. The lot was purchased in 1696 by a group that moved to the city from Kittery, Maine. At that time, Maine was part of the Massachusetts colony, and the group from Kittery were being persecuted by the Massachusetts Puritans for religious beliefs that ran counter to those accepted in the colony. The people in the group called themselves Antipedobaptists, believing that infants did not have the capability to choose to be baptized and that baptism into Christianity had to be a conscious adult choice. The Puritans reacted harshly, so the group moved to Carolina, as the colony was then called, which offered freedom from persecution for all beliefs at part of its colonial constitution. The group built a small wooden meeting house on a lot they bought on #Church Street, which was surrounded by a small graveyard. As the years progressed, the group changed its name to Anabaptists and then Baptists, and grew in numbers. Eventually the old structure was replaced with a church in the 1740’s, and the current church on the site added in 1822. Because the newer building required a much larger footprint on the small lot, the church was built on old grave sites, and the stones moved to the wall to remember this buried beneath. <img.src=”Charleston Historic Sites
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Peculiar Panes
The window panes in several of old #Charleston’s most #historic buildings feature an odd look that seems as though someone shot them with a BB gun. In fact, what this curious circles in the glass represent are the skills of the artisans who made these panes by hand. Before the industrial revolution made glass-making a mechanized procedure, window were typically made of what became known as Crown glass. The term comes from the molten glass that was created in kilns with a raised edge, or crown. The still-molten glass was attached as it cooled to a long pole, or pontil, and spun so that the centrifugal force would spread it into plates that were made into window panes. The attached section, was called the bullseye because of the large ripples created by the spinning, and was often cut out and thrown away. But it became fashionable to add the bullseye as one of the panes to show the skill of the artisan who made the glass. <img.src=”Charleston Curiosities
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Brick Background
This 1830’s #Charleston house is very typical in two ways. First, it is a brick structure dressed up with a stucco facade, and in this case clearly shows how these thin layers of lime and sand can be made very colorful. In the days before latex paint, oil colors would only seal in moisture and damage the building, so the stucco was pigmented with colors that came from mineral sources and compounds. The most rare and difficult to make usually became the fashion in hues such as this dazzling blue, and in modern times have been recreated in latex paints that allow the surface to breathe. Secondly, the house is like so many in the Ansonborough district, which burned in a huge 1838 fire that claimed more than 1,000 buildings. The city of Charleston was very wealthy at that time with the introduction of railroads that stimulated the economy, so the municipal government helped landowners rebuild Ansonborough very quickly with “fire loans” that made money available at cheap rates. <img.src=”Charleston Architecture” alt=”Ansonborough houses
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Ponderous Pulpit
The 18th century pulpit inside #St. Michael’s Church in #Charleston has a singular look and history. The structure was hand-carved from mahogany and features the interesting “Christograph” panel with the IHS, Iota Eta Sigma, the Greek abbreviation of Jesus, as well as the symbol of Star of David inside a triangle. This is symbolic of Old Testament, Star of David, and New Testament, Holy Trinity. The pulpit also features its massive sounding board, or tympanum, that is brilliantly created to balance on two rear wooden columns. The pulpit has survived more than the wrath of the Almighty, having been scarred by a Federal artillery shell fired into the church by Union troops bombarding the city in 1865. <img.src=”Classic Architecture” alt=”St. Michael’s Church pulpit
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Callimachus’ Contribution
The Acanthus Mollis is a common sight in #Charleston #gardens in the Summer. This non-native perennial comes from the Middle East, and the name comes from Greek, meaning “soft thorns” referring to the tiny thorns in its sepals. The most interesting visual aspect of the acanthus is its drooping flowers in combinations of purple and white on vertical stalks. According to the ancient architectural historian Vitruvius, it was the beauty of these flowers rising around a woman’s grave that inspired Greek sculptor Callimachus (circa 5th century BC) to create what is now considered the highest order of column capitals – the Corinthian Order. We see good examples of the acanthus on the walking tour, both in plant form and in architecture. I highly recommended that anyone planning a visit to Charleston should plan to take in some of the historic gardens. <img.src=”Charleston Gardens” alt=”Acanthus Mollis
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Spectacular Spectrum
Historic #Charleston is a photographer’s delight, with an abundance of classic architectural shapes, statuesque trees, glistening iron gates, manicured gardens and everywhere, dazzling colors made by man and nature. The exotic plants that have been introduced to Charleston over the centuries from around the world offer rich hues of brilliant blooms. The storied buildings are a visual marvel as well, with exterior walls splashed in shades of orange, raspberry, lime, indigo, canary, mustard and plum. In the city;s heyday after the American Revolution, pigmentation of buildings became a source of pride and an indication of wealth, with vivid colors created from minerals and compounds that were initially added to layers of wet stucco and brushed over bricks. Today, many of those historic colors have been reproduced in latex, making the application a much easier and lasting process and a look that visitors will not soon forget. <img.src=”Charleston SC” alt=”Colors”
Unconventional Unitarians
The Unitarian Church on Archdale Street in historic #Charleston is the 3rd oldest in the city, completed in 1787 and remodeled in the 1850’s by noted Charleston architect Francis Lee, incorporating English Renaissance and Gothic Revival styles. The Unitarians were always considered to be unconventional, and one of their intrinsic beliefs is that the son of God was not as divine as God himself, and therefore were not considered by some to be Christians. The Unitarians were very progressive in many respects, and were sympathetic to abolition and to women’s rights. One of the famous legends of the church graveyard is that the congregation was the only one in Charleston willing to accept the body of the notorious Lavinia Fisher, hanged for highway robbery in 1822, and whose body lies here in an unmarked grave. This area on Archduke Street is one of the city’s most scenic, including the Garden Walk. <img.src=”Charleston Architecture” alt=”Unitarian Church”
Mystical Mimosas
The stunning flower of this summer-blooming tree was first introduced to #Charleston in 1785, with the arrival of French botanist Andre Michaux, who brought a number of exotic species to America, including the Crepe Myrtle and Camellia. Although not a true Mimosa, the name adds flair to a tree which is actually related to soybeans, chickpeas, and peanuts, and who scientific name is a mouthful – Albizia Julibrissin. Michaux was royal gardener under Louis XVI, but instead of losing his head to the guillotine as did his former employer, he was sent by the French Revolutionary government to America as an naturalist emissary, and would find a home in Charleston for more than ten years, exploring the Southeast for other species, such as the one from the mountains he named the Rhododendron. <img.src=”Charleston Gardens” alt=”Mimosa Tree”
Gothic Grandeur
The interior of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, circa 1862, is one of the most dramatic displays in #historicCharlestonSC. It was designed by architect Francis D. Lee, who was an incredibly talented Charleston native. Lee, who became a Confederate office in the defense of Charleston during the #CivilWar, was so creative that he designed a torpedo boat, The Torch, planned for use against the Federal blockading squadron that tried to cut the maritime supply lines to the South. Lee’s various building designs included Moorish Revival, Italianate and Gothic Revival, and all of the work he did that still exists is very eye-catching today. <img.src=”Charleston Architecture” alt=”St. Luke’s Episcopal Church”