Lowndes Grove, also known as The Grove or Grove Farm, is a waterfront estate built in about 1786 on the

Ashley River The Ashley River is a blackwater and tidal river in South Carolina, rising from the Wassamassaw and Great Cypress Swamps in western Berkeley County. It consolidates its main channel about five miles west of Summerville, widening into a ti ...

Charleston Charleston most commonly refers to: * Charleston, South Carolina * Charleston, West Virginia, the state capital * Charleston (dance) Charleston may also refer to: Places Australia * Charleston, South Australia Canada * Charleston, Newfoundlan ...

. It is located in the

Wagener Terrace Wagener Terrace in Charleston, South Carolina is a large neighborhood made property that had been owned by Louis Dunnemann and Capt. F.W. Wagener. Subsequent developments added several hundred more lots. Today, the neighborhood is widely define ...

neighborhood on a triangular plot of land bordered by St. Margaret Street, 5th Avenue, and 6th Avenue. It was named to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on August 30, 1978.

History

John Gibbes built a house and garden with greenhouses on The Grove before the Revolutionary War. The house was probably located near Indian Hill on the Citadel campus. It was likely destroyed in 1779, but the gardens remained. Around 1786, heirs of the Gibbes family divided the land into smaller tracts, and three of the northernmost parcels were acquired by George Abbot Hall. Since the 1791 inventory of Hall's estate mentioned a house, it is assumed that the house was built around 1786. The next owners were the Beaufain brothers of the West Indies who operated a small farming operation on the site. They sold the house, which they had named Wedderburn Lodge, to Mary Clodner Vesey. She, in turn, in 1803, sold the property to William Lowndes, who was elected to the U.S. Congress. He served in Congress until he resigned due to poor health in 1822. After several owners, a Charleston businessman, Frederick W. Wagener, acquired the house. He was the president and one of the chief promoters of the

South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition The South Carolina Inter-State and West Indian Exposition, commonly called the Charleston Exposition or the West Indian Exposition, was a multi-county fair and regional trade exposition held in Charleston, South Carolina from December 1, 1901 t ...

, which was held in 1901–1902. The exposition was held on his and the Lowndes Grove house was used as the Woman's Building. In 1918, James Sottile purchased Lowndes Grove. Sottile owned and developed the

Isle of Palms An isle is an island, land surrounded by water. The term is very common in British English. However, there is no clear agreement on what makes an island an isle or its difference, so they are considered synonyms. Isle may refer to: Geography * Is ...

and later Sottile Farms, and by the time of his death in 1964, he was one of the richest people in America. Sottile developed much of the original land of the plantation into the streets and lots that surround the estate today. In 2007, the home was purchased by the Patrick family who restored the property and made it an event venue. The house was featured in the Netflix series, Outer Banks (2020), as the set for the Cameron family's home.

Architecture

It is a -story frame house on a raised basement. The top one and one-half stories are frame construction. The lower story and basement are stucco-covered brick. The house was probably designed in the

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

style, but its original appearance has been lost during the course of many renovations. It probably had a double portico, modified in about 1830 into a five-bay upper piazza with

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

columns and

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

s. The three center bays project forward and have a

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

and

oculus Oculus (a term from Latin ''oculus'', meaning 'eye'), may refer to the following Architecture * Oculus (architecture), a circular opening in the centre of a dome or in a wall Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Oculus'' (film), a 2013 American ...

. The piazza and house have

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

with

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

and dentil blocks. In the 1830 renovations, the house was extended toward the rear. The sides of the house have nine over nine

lights Light is an electromagnetic radiation, part of which stimulates the sense of vision. Light or Lights may also refer to: Illumination * Light bulb * Traffic light Arts and entertainment Music * Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian singer-son ...

. The house has a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thus, ...

that was covered with

terra cotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

tiles Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

in the 1920s. There are two dormers on each of the sides and three dormers in the rear. The house has two interior chimneys with

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

led caps. The interior has a four-room plan with central hallway. The ceilings and walls are plastered. The house has its original floors. Most major rooms are decorated in Adamsesque style with

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

s, ceiling medallions, and carved mantels. The first and second story rooms on the northwest were decorated in

Regency style Regency architecture encompasses classical buildings built in the United Kingdom during the Regency era The Regency era of British history officially spanned the years 1811 to 1820, though the term is commonly applied to the longer perio ...

when the house was enlarged. The first floor room toward the northeast was badly damaged in a fire during the 20th century. The room was rebuilt as a kitchen and library. The house has a

spiral staircase Stairs are a structure designed to bridge a large vertical distance between lower and higher levels by dividing it into smaller vertical distances. This is achieved as a diagonal series of horizontal platforms called steps which enable passage ...

with circular

skylight A skylight (sometimes called a rooflight) is a light-permitting structure or window, usually made of transparent or translucent glass, that forms all or part of the roof space of a building for daylighting and ventilation purposes. History Open ...

. Additional pictures are available.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Georgian architecture in South Carolina Houses completed in 1786 Plantation houses in South Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Charleston, South Carolina Houses in Charleston, South Carolina History of women in South Carolina

History

Architecture

See also

References