CharlestonCountyCourthouse(cropped) HABS361451pv

Court House Square is the location of

Charleston County Courthouse Charleston County Courthouse (1790–92) is a Neoclassical building in Charleston, South Carolina, designed by Irish people, Irish architect James Hoban. It was a likely model for Hoban's most famous building, the U.S. White House, and both buildi ...

in downtown

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 ...

, at the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets. It is historically known as "the

Four Corners of Law The Four Corners of Law is a term commonly used to refer to the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets in Charleston, South Carolina. It was coined in the 1930s by Robert Ripley, creator of ''Ripley's Believe it or Not!'' and refers to the build ...

" because the intersection hosted buildings from each level of government: the Courthouse (state law), City Hall (municipal law), the Federal Building and U.S. Post Office (federal law), and Saint Michael's Episcopal Church (canon law).

(1790–92) was designed by the Irish-born American architect

James Hoban James Hoban (1755 – December 8, 1831) was an Irish-American architect, best known for designing the White House. Life James Hoban was a Roman Catholic raised on Desart Court estate belonging to the Earl of Desart near Callan, County Kilkenny ...

. President

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

visited Charleston in May 1791, may have met with Hoban, and summoned the architect to

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(the temporary national capital) in June 1792. The following month, Hoban was named winner of the design competition for

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. The Courthouse itself is still in use, located in the

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

near the park at Washington Square. It was built on the site of and incorporated the ruins of the South Carolina Statehouse (1753, burned 1788), the capitol building for the

Colony of South Carolina Province of South Carolina, originally known as Clarendon Province, was a province of Great Britain that existed in North America from 1712 to 1776. It was one of the five Southern colonies and one of the thirteen American colonies. The monar ...

under

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Rule.Charleston County Courthouse
from National Park Service.

References

{{Coord, 32, 46, 35.814, N, 79, 55, 52.75, W, type:landmark, display=title Geography of Charleston, South Carolina