City Directories and History: ROBERT MILLS MANOR PROJECT
Constructed 1939-41; Douglas Ellington, Simons and Lapham, architects; Loutrel Briggs, landscape architect
The antebellum houses at 63 and 65 Beaufain Street reflect nineteenth- century design in the tradition of the Charleston single house. Both struc-tures of stuccoed brick have west-facing piazzas on the first and second floors. Tuscan columns support the piazzas, and vermiculated quoins decorate the structure at 63 Beaufain Street. Side lights and a glazed transom accentuate the main entry off the piazza. Flanked by mid-twentieth-century multiunit brick dwellings, these earlier two structures have been incorporated into the Robert Mills Manor Project, designed by local architects in the late 1930s. The thirty-four-unit Manor Project was one of the first in the Charleston area and is reflective of the creativity of Charlestonians in adapting the New Deal programs for low-income housing. The two-story, gable-roofed brick structures were built in the form of those in other areas, but in their materials and detailing as well as scale they seem like dependencies behind old Charleston houses, arranged in a courtyard fashion. This grouping, which replaced older, dilapidated structures along Beaufain, Magazine, Franklin, and Smith Streets and Cromwell Alley, remains a residential complex for persons of fixed income today.
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
“This notable antebellum house was built c. 1849 by F. Q. McHugh, an attorney. It has two and one-half stories of stuccoed brick, on a raised basement and interesting details including the vermiculated quoins at the corners. The building was preserved by incorporation into the Robert Mills Manor public housing project, in 1938-39.” (Thomas, DYKYC, May 9, 1970.) – CCPL
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 or The Charleston City Guide of 1872
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