City Directories and History: Here is the house across the street from me at 368 President St. before and after a renovation by a charming couple from New York. It was the subject of a nice write up in the New York Times! The Times article says it was built in 1919, but it was actually built in 1917. Here is the history of the house:
The house at 368 President St. was built on Lot 256 and a portion of a never developed lot fronting on Huger St. The Charleston Building & Investment Co. sold the lot to Claudia Gordon Tharin on February 2, 1914. No house was built immediately, and Ms. Tharin obtained a permit for the construction of a $2000 house in May 1917.
Claudia Tharin is a significant figure in social advocacy in Charleston as the founder of the Charleston branch of the Florence Crittenton Home. She was prompted into action after reading about a woman who attempted suicide after coming to Charleston alone to have her baby. In response, she formed the Christlove Mission of the King’s Daughters in 1897. The home for unwed mothers became affiliated with the Florence Crittenton charity on October 3, 1899. It moved to Washington St. in 1904 and then to St. Margaret St. where it opened (and remains) on April 6, 1932.
Upon building 368 President St., Tharin briefly rented the house to bookkeeper Karl E. and Marie Stello before occupying the house herself by 1920. Tharin remained in her house, sharing it with her sister at times, until at least 1934 and began renting the house again. She sold the house to Ida Ruth Goldstein for $8,000 on January 22, 1946. The deed also contained a plat showing the two-story frame house with a porch at the southeast corner (subsequently enclosed) and a one story wooden addition projecting 18 feet off the back.
The next several owners each held the house for only a short time. Ida R. Goldstein sold the house to petroleum inspector Robert W. Smith for $13,000 on May 30, 1956. He occupied the house with his wife, Allison, but sold it to Ben Flatauer for $900 and the assumption of a mortgage with a balance of $9925.66 on October 19, 1962. Mr. Flatauer held the house for an even shorter period and on December 1, 1962, he sold the house for $10 and the assumption with a balance of $9900 to Whaley and Jeanette Boyd. In 1961, it was home to officer-in-charge of the U.S. Shore Patrol headquarters, Lt. Eddie B. Blunt, and his wife, Lois B. Blount. The Boyds sold the house to John W. Heyward, Jr. for $10 and the assumption of a mortgage with a balance of $8633.85 on April 15, 1966. Nevertheless, the Boyds themselves remained in the house until at least 1968.
Mr. Heyward sold the house to John and Hattie Mae Rock for $17,750 on March 5, 1969. Mr. Rock worked as a machine operator for Claussen’s Bakery, while his wife worked as a seamstress. Following Mr. Rock’s death, Mrs. Rock received the house on March 12, 2014, and remained in the house until 2014.
The house is a two-story, front gable frame house with a one-story porch across the width of the front façade. The roof of the porch features an unusual double-hipped roof. The house has had fake siding added to the house at some point, and the north foyer window was removed in 2005.
Information written and contributed to R&R by Kevin R. Eberle – 2015 *** The link to the New York Times article.
Also see the National Register District data on Hampton Park Terrance
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
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