The Fireproof Building, also known as the County Records Building, is located at 100 Meeting Street, at the northwest corner of Washington Square, 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 ...

. Completed in 1827, it was the most fire-resistant building in America at the time, and is believed to be the oldest fire-resistant building in America today. After an extensive renovation, the building reopened in 2018 as the

South Carolina Historical Society The South Carolina Historical Society is a private, non-profit organization founded in 1855 to preserve South Carolina's rich historical legacy. The SCHS is the state's oldest and largest private repository of books, letters, journals, maps, d ...

Museum.

Description and history

The Fireproof Building is a two-story masonry structure, set on a tall stone basement with an arcade of round-arch openings and built out brick that has been stuccoed to resemble stone. The building is in the

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

style, 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 ...

porticoes north and south, and achieves a sophisticated appearance with clean and crisp lines, and relatively little ornamentation. Inside, the building has an oval stair hall lit by a cupola. The stone stairs are cantilevered through three stories. The building was built to house the office and records of

Charleston County Charleston County is located in the U.S. state of South Carolina along the Atlantic coast. As of the 2020 census, its population was 408,235, making it the third most populous county in South Carolina (behind Greenville and Richland counties). ...

. The contractor, John G. Spidle, built it in 1827 to the design of Robert Mills, the nation's first domestically-trained architect and an early advocate of fire-resistant buildings. Edgar, Walter, ed. ''The South Carolina Encyclopedia'', University of South Carolina Press, 2006, p. 325, The Fireproof Building was listed on 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 ...

in 1969, and 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 liste ...

in 1973. and The building is currently the home of the

. In 2016-17 the society completed a major renovation intended to modernize all systems, to provide a secure, climate controlled environment for the storage of historic documents, and to provide both an events venue and modern museum space. In the summer of 2018 the society reopened the building as a museum dedicated to the history of South Carolina and to the history of the Fireproof Building itself.

References

External links

Fireproof Building, Charleston County (100 Meeting St., Charleston)
including 7 photos, at South Carolina Department of Archives and History *
Historic Charleston's Religious and Community Buildings, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary
*Robert P. Stockton, ''Information for Guides of Historic Charleston'', South Carolina 350 (1985).
South Carolina Historical Society
{{National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina Buildings and structures in Charleston, South Carolina County government buildings in South Carolina National Historic Landmarks in South Carolina Historic American Buildings Survey in South Carolina Government buildings completed in 1827 Robert Mills buildings National Register of Historic Places in Charleston, South Carolina Passive fire protection Historic district contributing properties in South Carolina Government buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in South Carolina 1827 establishments in South Carolina

Description and history

See also

References

External links