MORTON WARING HOUSE
City Directories and History: Constructed circa 1803; renovated circa 1890-1900
“Built by the local factor Morton Waring in 1803, this structure originally stood as a large three-and-a-half-story, exposed brick Charleston single house. Waring sold the property, following severe financial reversals in 1811, to Mordecai Cohen. Cohen, who immigrated to Charleston from Poland as a peddler in the 1780s, rose to be a banker and merchant, and was considered to be the second-wealthiest man in South Carolina by 1830. However, Cohen, too, experienced financial losses, and he was forced to sell this property in 1844.
The house was owned in the late-nineteenth century by the Smith and Heyward families, who significantly altered the building with the addition of a marble veneer at the turn of the century. The principal three-bay facade now features marble quoining, marble console brackets over the first-floor windows, and a masked piazza, although the house retains its early-Neoclassical piazza door screen. In 1961 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston purchased the house for office space.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
“Morton Waring’s House. Waring, a wealthy factor, bought the site from Mrs. Ann Middleton in 1803 and built the house by 1807, when it was advertised for sale. The embargo acts of the Jefferson administration adversely affected Charleston business operations, including Waring’s. He divided the property into three lots, selling two to the Freemason’s Hall Company and the eastern lot, with this house on it, to Mordecai Cohen, in 1811. Cohen bought back the adjoining property in 1818. Cohen, a native of Poland, came to the United States a poor peddler, but amassed a fortune as a merchant, real estate speculator and banker, until, by 1830 he was regarded as “second only to James Adger as the wealthiest man in South Carolina.” ln 1825, Cohen loaned his gold dinner service to the City for a banquet in honor of Lafayette. Cohen is said to have lost most of his fortune as a result of the great fire of 1838. He sold the house in 1844 to John L. Hedley, who sold it in 1851 to the successful merchant and factor, William B. Smith. His daughter married, I. K. Heyward. The Heyward family faced the street front with marble and made other changes, c. 1900. The house, however, retains many of its Adamesque features of c. 1803. The property was purchased in 1957 by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Charleston for use by several diocesan offices.” (Green, unpub. MS; SCHS; Stoney, News & Courier, March 16, 1958; ________, This is Charleston, 16.) – CCPL
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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