City Directories and History: HENRY HORLBECK HOUSES
Constructed before 1852; renovated 1971-72
“Henry Horlbeck, son of the brickmaking family that owned Boone Hall Plantation, built these two stuccoed brick dwellings as investments on lots that had been subdivided from the college lands in 1817. Horlbeck sold the larger three-story single house with parapeted and corbeled gable roof to J. C. Johnson while retaining the smaller house to the north as a rental property. The latter is a two-and-a-half-story single house with a similar parapeted gable. It was conveyed by Horlbeck’s estate by 1894 to the businessman and real estate baron Samuel Wilson. The College of Charleston rehabilitated both structures for use as student residences in the early-1970s.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston – Author, for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
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
R&R NOTE: My Grandfather Carl Ludwig Sorensen and his wife Mary Elizabeth Sorensen occupied 70 Coming Street with their family up until 1952 when my grandmother died. My grandfather,who was from Copenhagen, Denmark, returned there before the outbreak of World War II. He died over there and was buried in his home country. There is a headstone in a family plot in St. Lawrence Cemetery.
There were five children. Two were graduates of the College of Charleston and were teachers in the Charleston schools. The oldest, N. Marie Sorensen did not attend college but taught kindergarten up until her retirement. It was through her efforts that the other two daughters were able to attend college and graduate. There were two sons John Carl died in an influenza outbreak around 1918. My father was George Whitmore Sorensen and he worked at the Charleston Naval Shipyard as a pipefitter He died in May of 1953 at home at 58 and a half Coming Street. I was six when my dad died but I remember visiting my grandmother at least once at that house. My Mother’s mother Ella Williams lived at 76 Coming street and took care of us while mom and dad worked. Written and contributed to R&R on 7.4.17 by Mary Sorenson
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