The Robert Brewton House is a historic house at 71 Church Street in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. With a construction date at or before 1730, it is the oldest dated example of a "single" house. A single house is one room wide, with the narrow end towards the street, the better to catch cool breezes. It was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1960. and

Description and history

The house is set on a narrow lot on the west side of Church Street in Old Charleston. The house was built between 1701 and 1715. It was acquired in the 1730s or 1740s by Miles Brewton, who had immigrated from

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

to Charleston in 1684, where he became a goldsmith and militia officer.Nicholas Michael Butler, "Brewton, Miles (January 29, 1731-August 1775)
''South Carolina Encyclopedia'', 2016 He gave the house to his son Robert Brewton, also a goldsmith and then married to his second wife, Mary Griffith. In addition, Miles Brewton made a 1733 deed of gift to his daughter Dale of the neighboring house at 73 Church Street; this deed also refers to his son's house. The two properties were separated by a 3-foot alley. Robert Brewton succeeded his father as Powder Receiver for the city in 1745. That year he sold this house to his sister Rebecca Brewton and her husband Jordan Roche. The house is a rectangular hip-roofed brick structure, three stories in height, presenting three bays to the front, with a narrow driveway to the south, to which the house presents five bays and its main entrance. It has stuccoed corner quoining, and decorative stuccoed keystone elements over the windows. The building is known to have had a porch across the main facade; it was not original to the building, and was removed at an unknown date. Robert's son Miles Brewton (1731-1775) benefited by his father's financial connections. He gained some of his education in England in the 1750s, and returned to Charleston, where he became a merchant and slave trader in Charleston. He commissioned construction of the

Miles Brewton House The Miles Brewton House is a National Historic Landmark residential complex located in Charleston, South Carolina. It is one of the finest examples of a double house (a reference to the arrangement of four main rooms per floor, separated by a c ...

on King Street, which was completed about 1769. It is a double house in the Palladian style, with an intact complex of support buildings on its two-acre lot. Considered one of the finest Georgian buildings in the country, it was designated as a

in 1979.

References

External links

Robert Brewton House, Charleston County (71 Church St., Charleston)
at South Carolina Department of Archives and History {{DEFAULTSORT:Brewton, Robert, House National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina Houses in Charleston, South Carolina Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Houses completed in 1721 National Register of Historic Places in Charleston, South Carolina Historic district contributing properties in South Carolina 1721 establishments in the Thirteen Colonies

Description and history

See also

References

External links