“A mid 19th century Gothic Revival church building refecting Charleston’s finest.”
136 Church Street
City Directories and History: Enjoy added information by clicking on National Register sites.
Completed in 1845, the Huguenot Church was the first Gothic Revival building built in Charleston. It is an excellent example of Edward Brickell White’s versatility for he had recently completed both Greek Doric and Roman Doric buildings within the city. Though White was probably at his best in the design of buildings in the classic manner, the Huguenot Church appears to have been his first essay in Gothic. The building is stucco on brick with a single tier of Gothic windows and is three by six bays in proportion.
It shows a quantity of pinnacle-topped buttresses, a battlement parapet, and dripstones. Cast-iron crockets are located on the pinnacles over the front windows and front gable. The use of pinnacled buttresses on the front elevation as well as the flanks might lead one to expect an interior with nave and aisles; however, the interior is a single cell with plaster ribbed grained vaulting. Its width in relation to its height gives it an unexpected sense of spaciousness for a building of its size. This is the third edifice on this site. Listed in the National Register November 7, 1973; Designated a National Historic Landmark November 7, 1973. [Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History]
The church is reported to have cost $12,000. to originally construct. (BS)
Also see additional information at 140 Church Street.
Other sources of interest: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, and the Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917. The HCF may also have additional data at: Past Perfect and further research can be uncovered at: Charleston 1861 Census Schedule
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IMAGE GALLERY via photographer Bill Segars – 2005
User comments always welcome - please post at the bottom of this page.
Bill Thompson says
Great article. I hope to visit this church someday.