City Directories and History: COOPER-BEE HOUSE
Constructed 1760-65; various twentieth- century restorations
“Called by the late architectural historian Samuel G. Stoney “three variations on the theme of the Charleston ‘single house,’” numbers 90, 92, and 94 Church Street reflect the development of the single house from the mid-eighteenth century. The clients who contracted for the three three-story brick houses—Leger, Christie, and Cooper—were all wealthy and socially prominent individuals whose architectural aspirations, according to one architectural historian, defined Charleston’s early town houses as “a union of cosmopolitan and vernacular building traditions.” 90 and 94 Church Street were constructed in the 1760s as three-story, hipped roof, center- passage plan dwellings with ground-floor front commercial rooms or offices; while the taller 92 Church Street was built solely as a residence for a Scottish merchant in the early-nineteenth century. The site at 90 Church contains a two-story slave quarters – kitchen, while 94 Church includes a narrow passage behind the house providing access to the neighbors’ back buildings on the interior of the block. All three edifices, particularly 90 Church, retain splendid original woodwork.
During the early-to mid-nineteenth century these buildings were altered. The Cooper-Bee House received all new out buildings, and the owner of the Leger House completed both a new garden and outbuildings. Both houses gained two-story piazzas as well. All three houses underwent the removal of their commercial usage, and the houses were physically connected to their back buildings, showing a segregation between workspace and domestic space and reflecting a topographically redefined central business district. The latter change in which individual buildings on the lot were connected with infill wings represented a two-part shift in lot planning toward, first, the consolidation of household functions under a single roof and, second, a growing sense of room specialization. All three buildings were returned to single family usage in the present century: 90 Church Street was restored by W. Lucas Simons, the brother of architect Albert Simons; 92 Church Street became the rectory of St. Philip’s Church; and 94 Church Street served briefly as the spring tours headquarters for Historic Charleston Foundation. The latter has been extensively restored by its owner in recent years with a contemporary renovation of its rear hyphen.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
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
Beckwith, Samuel Gary, rector; son of Thomas Stanley and Emma (Gary) Beckwith; attended McCabe’s University School, Davis Military School, University of the South, Sewanee, Tenn.; B. A. and M. A. degrees from University of the South ; rector of St. Philip’s Parish, Charleston, S. C., since April 1, 1906; member Standing Committee, Diocese of S. C., Charleston Municipal Playground Commission, chaplain Washington Light Infantry, trustee of St. Mary’s School, Raleigh, N. C.; local community service during World War; married Videau Marion Legare, Aiken, S. C., December 11, 1900; member of Masons, 32nd degree, K. C. C. H., A. A. S. R., Shriners, S. A. E. Fraternity, S. C. Society, Charleston Country Club. Home, 92 Church St., Charleston, S. C.
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