John Bickley Archives - Charleston County

City Directories and History: JOHN BICKLEY HOUSE – Constructed 1824-26

“A wealthy lumber merchant and Goose Creek rice planter built this two-and-a-half-story, plantation style, brick house in the mid-1820s. Characterized by late-Federal or Regency detailing, the structure has a red sandstone staircase that approaches a double-tiered piazza set on an arcaded foundation. Tuscan columns support a flattened arcade on the first tier of the piazza that forms the foundation for a second tier. A central brick pediment with dog toothed cornice extends from the roof, matching detailing on the side gables. The Bickley family held the property until 1880, conveying it then to Charles Bateman, a railway freight agent. By this point change through subdivision and differing economic conditions substantially affected the character of the Radcliffeborough district.”

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

Also see information on a John Bickley‘s grave.

“John Bickley purchased the site of this house in 1824 and placed the property, with the house on it, in trust for his wife the former Mary Desel, in 1826. Bickley was a lumber factor with the firm of Bickley & Glover and planted rice at Woodstock Plantation on the headwaters of Goose Creek. The house is in the Regency style with richly decorated interior woodwork and plasterwork. The gable-roofed and pedimented brick house has piazzas on three sides, reflecting its former semi-rural situation near Coming’s Creek.” (Thomas, DYKYC, Jan. 6, 1969; Stoney, This is Charleston , p. 108) – CCPL

Other resources: Charleston Tax Payers of Charleston, SC in 1860-61, Dwelling Houses of Charleston by Alice R.H. Smith – 1917, Charleston 1861 Census Schedule, 1844 Map of Charleston, and a 1872 Bird’s Eye View of Charleston, S.C. The Hist. Charleston Foundation may also have additional data at: Past Perfect

Membership in R&R

Stay connected with R&R, “Explore S.C. history, historic houses, & family stories…” Sign up for a R&R membership. Members receive the “From the Porch” blog, updates on regional topics, and targeted notifications of their choice. Membership also includes travel opportunities: Carolina DeJaunts. Login and prioritize your specific points of enthusiasm: R&R Login. If you only wish to receive the “From the Porch” newsletter and no additional membership content, use the R&R Blog signup form.

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

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.

Do you have information to share and preserve? Family, school, church, or other older photos and stories are welcome. Send them digitally through the “Share Your Story” link, so they too might be posted on Roots and Recall.

Thanks!

City Directories and History: JOHN BICKLEY TENEMENT
Constructed circa 1859; altered 1920s

“John Bickley, who lived at 64 Vanderhorst Street, acquired this property as part of a tract purchased in 1824 from Justice Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin. It was covenanted in the conveyance that Bickley would not build on the southwest corner of the property and obstruct the view from Dunkin’s house at 89 Warren Street. After the death of the judge and the filling of the portion of the mill pond bordering the edge of the site, Bickley constructed a two-and-a-half-story plantation style house on a raised basement. In 1861 Theodore Dehon Wagner, a partner in the blockade-running firm of John Fraser and Company, purchased the dwelling.

The scored and stuccoed brick facade and double-tiered piazzas, as well as important interior features, survive even though the building was converted to apartments in the early-twentieth century. Corner additions, staircases on the piazza, and a cast metal canopy above the entry tend to obscure the house’s early character. Vague evidence of the architrave of the building’s principal entry, now closed, remains on the Smith Street elevation.”

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

Membership in R&R

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

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!

64 Vanderhorst Street

132 Smith Street

From the Porch

From The Porch