City Directories and History: 1908 – Arthur T. Hart, clerk@ The Loan and Savings Bank, also Geo. W.S. Hart and wife Ellen A. Hart, attorney, 1958 – Arthur T. Hart, 1966 – Elizabeth H. Hart
The Hart House is significant in terms of both architecture and local history. David Gordon built the Hart House ca. 1855. In the 1860s and 1870s, James Franklin Hart, a lawyer who was one of three South Carolinians appointed in 1881 to codify the laws of the state, owned the house. Hart also served in the state Senate and in 1888 was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 1880 he sold the property to his law partner, George Washington Seabrook Hart, a prominent local figure and president of the Loan and Savings Bank of Yorkville. (The Rock Hill Herald reported on April 18, 1889 – “That a state bank was organized in Yorkville with G. W. S. Hart as Pres., and J. B. Lindsay as Cashier.” Earlier on March 27, 1889 the paper has stated – “The new Loan and Saving Bank has been chartered in Yorkville with a capital stock of $60,000. The corporators are: William H. Herndon, J. Robert Lindsay, Walter B. Moore, James F. Hart, and George W. S. Hart, William B. McCaw, D. Ed Finley, M.C. Willis, John M. Hope, John May, W. G. White, and T. Baxter McClean.)
The Hart House is an excellent example of a Greek Revival raised cottage. Interesting features of the house
include Palladian windows in the gable ends of the roof and the front door sidelights and transom that exhibit a Gothic Revival influence. The front façade features a double portico with simple square columns and pilasters on the main floor, and brick piers and central arch on the basement level. The rear façade reveals several additions and alterations, having originally featured a double portico with shed roof. Listed in the National Register December 2, 1977. [Courtesy of the S.C. Dept. of Archives and History]
The house originally had an outside circular staircases leading to each end of the porch, which were most likely removed to contribute them to the war effort. The interior staircase was “recycled” from a next-door house destroyed by fire in the late 1800’s (present-day 218 E. Liberty). Around 1872, George Washington Seabrook Hart (1851-1925) moved to Yorkville from Wadmalaw Island, a sea island near Charleston, in hopes that the higher altitude would be beneficial to his acute asthmatic attacks. He “read law” under Major James Franklin Hart (no relation), who evidently helped make it possible for the young man to buy this property. G. W. S. Hart married Ellen Almene Hacksett [1860-1940] in 1877. Two of their eleven children were Brig. Gen. William Lee Hart, U.S. Army Medical Corps, and Rt. Rev. Oliver James Hart, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Pennsylvania, listed in Who’s Who in America. Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Baltz are the present owner-occupants. [Courtesy of the Yorkville Historical Society – 2002]
The Herald reported on Jan. 18, 1899 – “On a meeting of the stockholders of the Loan and Savings Bank of Yorkville. Mr. G.W.S. Hart, Esquire was re-elected President, W.P. Harrison – Cashier, John B. Williams – Asst. Cashier, and W.B. McCaw – Attorney.”
The Yorkville Enquirer of Nov. 6, 1906 contained an ad for George W. S. Hart, attorney at #2 Law Range.
*** As has been explained the house is a basic raised cottage home of Greek Revival style having significant influences from the very popular Gothic Revival period of the 1850’s.
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Bruce Craig (mother: Katharine Hart) says
Major James Franklin Hart was my mother’s grandfather and commander of Hart’s Battery, the only South Carolina horse artillery unit under General Jeb Stuart during the Civil War, fighting in over 100 engagements in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. My great grandfather lost his leg in the siege of Petersburg but survived to return to York and resume his law practice. Married twice he had six children, most staying in South Carolina, the black sheep of the family was my grandfather, Edward Hart who moved to New Orleans, went to law school, but because he was under 21 when completing his education, was denied his license. Strong-headed like his father he never went back to get his license and became an accountant. A number of books about Stuart’s Horse Artillery including the exploits of Hart’s Battery have been written.