City Directories and History: In December 1912, White Swan Laundry was chartered by George S. Brantley (its president) and two other businessmen. A building permit for a $6000 facility was issued for 723 King Street on January 4, 1913, and in April 1913, the new business began a run of several decades.
In Hurricane Hugo, the building suffered some damage, but was still clearly salvageable. But, the owner had other ideas, and he announced his plans to tear it down a few years later. In March 1995, the City investigated whether the building was older the 75 years old (which was the minimum age for requiring permission from the Board of Architectural Review at that time). The owner claimed the building was built only in the 1920s and was outside the jurisdiction of the BAR. However, the City’s preservation organizations argued that it was older than 75 years old. The BAR agreed that the building was old enough to be protected and denied demolition of the remaining façade on April 12, 1995.
The next month, the owner claimed that an after-hours emergency had caused the building to be unstable, and a contractor demolished the structure without notifying any city officials first. There were no witnesses to this supposed emergency even by the time a demolition contractor had been hired to finish the job. It was demolished without approval.
The City’s only response was a $50 fine on the contractor who demolished it. After letters to the editor pointed out the severity of the loss, in July 1995, the City filed charges against the contractor for demolishing the building without permission. The unrepentant contractor said, “If they have nothing better to do that charge me with that, an individual and a contractor who did nothing more than make a dilapidated part of town safer for children, then the city’s got some really serious problems.” (Among some of those other problems, perhaps, were outstanding criminal charges against the contractor at the time for second degree arson, malicious damage of real property, and assault and battery.)
The loss of the White Swan Laundry was the first preservation loss of the Uptown that rallied the City’s preservation organizations and Uptown residents. Until that time, many residents were unaware of the Uptown as a distinct area of Charleston with its own historical and architectural sense worth saving. Since 1995, the Uptown has certainly suffered from the loss of historic fabric, and the City still gives the Uptown far less attention and protection than the tourist-intense areas of the lower peninsula. Nevertheless, times are changing, and the future of preservation looks brighter as new money floods into the area’s commercial corridors and neighborhoods.
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