George Gibbon Archives - Charleston County

97 Rutledge Avenue

City Directories and History: GIBBON HOUSE
Constructed circa 1885

“Constructed in the late-Italianate style variant of the Charleston side-hall plan, this dwelling built by George Gibbon just before the earthquake of 1886 is noted for its fine balustraded front stair, a bracketed front gable with a semicircular headed window, and double-tiered piazza with similar brackets. Held by the Gibbon family for nearly a century, it descended to Maude Gibbon, who founded the Charleston Symphony in 1919. She reorganized the symphony in 1936 and personally collected needed musical scores and instruments, as well as housing guest artists such as Pablo Casals. Miss Gibbon left the house to the Charleston Symphony in the 1960s, and it served as that organization’s headquarters for several years before returning to a single-family residence.”

Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston – Author, 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

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Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

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167 Broad Street

City Directories and History: HEILBRON-GIBBON HOUSE
Constructed circa 1836-40

“This two-and-a-half-story raised brick single house may he the only dwelling on the south side of Broad Street, west of Legare Street, to survive the 1861 fire. Apparently built by James Heilbron, it was owned at the time of the Civil War by George Gibbon, a merchant of Massachusetts origin who lived nearby on New Street.”

Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997

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Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

Thanks!

18 – 22 Broad Street or People’s Building

Sholes’ Directory of the City of Charleston – 1882

The Yorkville Enquirer reported on July 6, 1871 – “The capital stock of the People’s National Bank of Charleston has been increased to $1,000,000.”

City Directories and History: PEOPLE’S BUILDING
Constructed 1910-11 Victor Frohling, architect (#’s 18 – 22 Broad Street)

“Mayor R. Goodwyn Rhett, while president of the People’s Bank, spearheaded the construction of the People’s Building as Charleston’s first skyscraper. It stands on the site of a late-eighteenth-century brick double tenement, an indication of the city’s early-twentieth-century progress. Critics then, as now, debated the effect of the eight-story structure on the skyline of the original city. Designed by the New York architect Victor Profiling, the largely yellow brick building has granite rustication on the ground and mezzanine stories and terra cotta ornamentation, now painted with a metallic finish, at the top floor, although a later owner removed the surmounting entablature. The columned portico and shuttered ground- story window openings of the People’s Building retain a

Demolished in 1909 when the property was incorporated into the parcel used to construct the People’s Trust Building. Image courtesy of the Kevin Eberle Collection – 2015

Charleston flavor, while the rest of the structure hints at the contemporary national influences. The marble lions flanking the entry, brought from an estate in Massachusetts in the 1950s, are considered landmarks in their own right and were saved from removal by the city’s Board of Architectural Review in 1990.”

Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997

An 1872 advertisement lists the following board members: John Hanckel, W.H. Houston, C.H. West, William A. Courtenay, W.Y. Leitch, C.L. Burckmeyer, J.B. E. Sloan, E. Lafitte, E.C. Williams, George A. Locke, J.H. Wilson, Williams Ufferhardt, J.B. Betts, James B. Betts.

*** The four-story building at 18 Broad Street was demolished in 1909 when the property was incorporated into the parcel upon which the People’s Trust Building was erected. (Written and submitted to R&R by Kevin Eberle – 2015)

STATE BANK associates in 1852 included: Edward Sebring, Pres., Henry Trescot, Cashier, and others: James H. Ladson, Samuel P. Ripley, George Gibbon, George M. Coffin, E.W. Bancroft, H.S. Hayden, H.A. Desaussure, MP. Mathiessen, John E. Cay, R. Mure, T. Trout, T.G. Budd, Benj. M. Lee, Hopson Pinckney, Lewis Jervey, James M. Bee, J.L. Egleston, John Bell Bee, H.A. Desaussure

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User comments welcome — post at the bottom of this page.

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

Please enjoy this structure and all those listed in Roots and Recall. But remember each is private property. So view them from a distance or from a public area such as the sidewalk or public road.

Thanks!

Note the bill from Thomas’s Store in Ridgeway, S.C. is payable to J.B. E. Sloan, whose office is located at this site in 1899.

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