City Directories and History: BIRD-TIEDEMAN HOUSE
Constructed 1885 – John Henry Devereux, architect
“William M. Bird, a dealer in paint, glass, and hardware, lived on lower Meeting Street but built this house in 1885. The house reflects the transition between the Italianate and Queen Anne styles, apparent in its double-tiered front bay window, curved piazzas with saw-cut-patterned balustrades, and intermediary cross gable. Early photographs depict the original polychrome paint treatment of this building, as well as the lost detailing of its rear carriage house, formerly surmounted by a cupola. Bird sold the house to the German grocer Otto Tiedeman, relative of other German families on Broad Street, in 1889.”
Information from: The Buildings of Charleston – J.H. Poston for the Historic Charleston Foundation, 1997
“John Henry Devereux was the architect of this house, built c. 1885 for William M. Bird. Bird was a partner with H.F. Welch in William M. Bird & Co., wholesale dealers in paints, oils, glass, naval stores and ship chandlery, at East Bay and Cumberland Streets. Bird never lived here, but continued to live at 17 Meeting St. He sold the property in 1889 to Otto Tiedeman, a wholesale grocer on East Bay, who is the first documented occupant of the house. Some architectural details of this two story frame house are similar to features on the house Devereux remodeled for George S. Cook at 24 South Battery 15 years earlier. Similarities include the prominent two tiered bay window, window treatment, piazza colonnettes and railings, and other decorations. The house is faced with novelty siding typical of the period and the foundation is of Stoney Landing brick, made locally in the 1880s.”(Stockton, DYKYC, Nov. 16, 1981.) – CCPL
“The agency is named Louis & Louis Sherfesee, Insurance Agents, and was located at 277 King Street. Moseley F. Sherfesee continued to work as a railroad conductor until the 1904 Directory, when he is recorded as an insurance agent for Germanic Life Insurance Company. It is not clear if this was in his father’s agency or another agency. Robert Augustus Sherfesee worked as a stenographer in 1902 with Pringle Brothers, then as a bookkeeper in 1903 and 1904 with Wm. M. Bird & Company. ” Paul M. Gettys research for R&R – 2016
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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