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 ...
in
Charleston.
It is located in the
Wagener Terrace 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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
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
The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...
. 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 to ...
, which was held in 1901–1902. The exposition was held on his and the Lowndes Grove house was used as the Woman's Building.
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 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 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 ...
s. The three center bays project forward and have a pediment
Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...
and oculus. 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 (architecture), cornice which helps to support them. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally transl ...
and dentil
A dentil (from Lat. ''dens'', a tooth) is a small block used as a repeating ornament in the bedmould of a cornice. Dentils are found in ancient Greek and Roman architecture, and also in later styles such as Neoclassical, Federal, Georgian Rev ...
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
* Lighting
* Light bulb
* Traffic light
Arts and entertainment Music
* Lights (musician) (born 1987), Canadian s ...
.[
The house has a ]hip roof
A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including Tented roof, tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other ve ...
that was covered with terra cotta
Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...
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 ot ...
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 keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...
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 (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...
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 in the early 19th century when George IV was Prince Regent, and also to earlier and later buildings following the same style. The period co ...
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 direction, 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 wh ...
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
O ...
.[ Additional pictures are available.]
See also
* The Woman's Building at the World's Columbian Exposition
*
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