City Directories and History: MOSES LEVY HOUSE
Constructed circa 1816; rehabilitated 1980s
“The leader, or hazan, of Temple Beth Elohim constructed this three-story brick house. Moses Levy is best known for having saved the sacred scrolls from the burning synagogue during the fire of 1838, while five of his own properties burned in the conflagration. Moses Levy’s son
Jacob and daughter-in-law Fanny Yates Levy took up residence in the house by 1819. Jacob Levy was educated in Europe and met his bride in her native city of Liverpool. Her noted portrait by Thomas Sully now hangs in the Corcoran Gallery. The house was sold to the steamship entrepreneur James Adger in 1849, and it briefly served as the home of the South’s famous proslavery novelist William Grayson. The structure is particularly noted for the elaborate Federal style architrave with oval paterae and gouge work that serves as its piazza entrance. Similarly exuberant Neoclassical woodwork ornaments the interior.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston 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
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