City Directories and History: ROBERT MARTIN HOUSE
Constructed 1834-35; renovated 1996
“Robert Martin, a wealthy trader-merchant in (upcountry short fiber) cotton, purchased this lot from the planter Thomas Milliken in 1834 for $2,500. The lot, now 100 feet wide along Charlotte Street and 200 feet deep, differs from the 1801 plat of Wraggborough. The 1835-36 city directory lists Robert Martin, a factor, living on Charlotte Street, suggesting that construction had begun after his purchase of the property.
Martin’s house has a traditional central hall plan with two symmetrical rooms on each side of the entry and staircase hall. Set on a high brick basement, this house resembles many of the earlier plantation houses of the Carolina Lowcountry with its piazza supported by massive Doric columns on the ground story and fluted Doric columns above. Paired dependencies at the rear form a domestic courtyard protected by a high brick wall from East Bay Street. The whole complex has been renovated as a law office.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston – Author, for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
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
“This three story brick double house on a high brick basement, with fluted Doric columns on the piazza, curving outside steps and fine interior plasterwork and woodwork, was built between 1834 and 1840 by Robert Martin, a successful merchant in the “wagon-yard” trade. The wagon-yards were located mainly on upper King Street where wagon drivers from the state’s interior exchanged country products for store goods. A bathtub in the basement, seven feet long, three feet wide and two feet deep and carved from a single block of Winnsboro granite, was, according to tradition, the first stationary bathtub in the city.” (Thomas, DYKYC, Dec. 15, 1969; Stockton, News & Courier , July 30, 1975.) – CCPL
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