City Directories and History: BULL HOUSE
Constructed circa 1720; altered 1800-10, 1895-1905
“The first lieutenant governor of the Royal Colony of South Carolina apparently built a portion of this house around 1720. The house was owned and occupied by Governor Bull’s son, William Bull II, who was also a lieutenant governor. The second Bull was the first native South Carolinian to receive a medical degree. This three-and-a-half-story stuccoed brick dwelling on a high brick basement sits on a large lot at the corner of Meeting and Ladson Streets. The principal facade features quoining, stucco lintels and keystones. Some alterations in the Colonial Revival style date from its ownership at the turn of the century by the family of Mayor John Ficken. According to tradition, this house was nearly identical to the Ashley Hall Plantation house, country seat of the Bull family, which was destroyed in 1865.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
“Mrs. Gertrude C. Bull, our long-time patron, sends a name note from her husband’s family records: “Ashley Hall, the girls’ school in Charleston, was named after the Bull family plantation on the Ashley River. The Misses Mac Bee, who founded the school, asked permission to use the name of the former plantation. Of course, the Bulls consented with pleasure.”
Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC
Other sources: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917, Charleston 1861 Census Schedule, and a 1872 Bird’s Eye View of Charleston, S.C. The Hist. Charleston Foundation may also have additional data at: Past Perfect
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