City Directories and History: Possibly the oldest house in Columbia, the Seibels House was built entirely of hand-hewn timber by A. M. Hale on a portion of the Thomas Taylor Plantation. Due to loss of state and local records by fire, the exact date of the house cannot be determined. However, there is record of the date 1796 carved on one of the hand-hewn timbers in the basement. The house was later purchased by Captain Benjamin Elmore, who then sold it to Mr. John Jacob Seibels. It is two-and-one-half-stories with Georgian lines. The first story, with wide doorway and sidelights, is of brick with four large shuttered windows. The second story is clapboard with six unshuttered windows. Piazzas on the front and the west sides of the house are supported by slender Doric columns. Piazzas formerly extended on three sides; east piazza replaced ca. 1900 by the addition of a sun porch on the first floor and a room on the second floor. Other additions include extensions enlarging the first and second story rooms on the back northeast corner of the house. Mantel pieces are believed to be original. Listed in the National Register May 6, 1971. [Courtesy of the SC Dept. of Archives and History]
As for Columbia houses in the National Register, possibly the oldest are the Hale-Elmore-Seibels House (popularly known in recent years as Picriccorn — taking its name from its location at PICkcns and RIChland CORner– and, even more recently, as Hudson’s for the proprietor of the gourmet restaurant located there) and the Horry-Guignard House, which has stood at its Senate Street location three blocks west of the State House since 1813. Peter Horry — a Colonel in the Revolution and a Brigadier General in the South Carolina Militia — is credited with building the latter house, which later became the home of John Gabriel Guignard. Surveyor General of South Carolina from 1798 to 1802, Guignard laid out the new capital city’s symmetrical grid of streets, a careful street plan which is a Columbia heritage dating back to 1787. Picriccorn, which tradition says may have been built as early as 1796, although no firm dates are known, has been in the family of the present owner, George R.P. Walker, since its acquisition in the early 1850’s by a member of the Seibels family.
(Information from: Names in South Carolina by C.H. Neuffer, Published by the S.C. Dept. of English, USC)
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