Charleston’s architecture is what makes the city the most charming of southern belles. It’s beloved for horse-drawn carriages, light-colored antebellum houses and more history than any book you read in high school. Charleston, South Carolina is a romantic little city along low country waterways is known for its rich cuisine, maritime story, and as the holy city for its 400 church spires. These things are anchored by architecture preserved and immaculately restored over hundreds of years.

No place else can you stroll through the residential streets and admire the homes and gardens with the feeling that you have stepped back in time. It’s unique because few places have such an extensive collection of historically preserved homes in one area – and because of what it makes us realize about ourselves and our past.

While each home is different, many have similar elements: floor-to-ceiling windows, big porches on multiple levels, extensive gardens, pastel colors, ornate staircases, and decorative ironwork. The neighborhoods built in the 1670s include carriage houses, various outbuildings, and cobbled alleys with many details and hidden features waiting to be discovered.

I stayed in Charleston for a month and one of my favorite things to do was walk up and down the old blocks in the historic districts. While there, I learned a few things about these old houses and the uber-rich people who lived in them.

1. These Charleston-style homes are unchanged for a century

I took a carriage ride in the Charleston historic district for the first time. It’s the most popular thing to do in downtown Charleston. The residential areas are extensive, and the carriages are the perfect speed for covering the most area, plus the guides know what’s what. My driver, Austin, pointed out the remains of the city barrier walls that I would have never noticed. At its founding, Charleston was a fortified city enclosed within brick walls. The city dismantled them after the Revolutionary War, but you can still see where they used to be if you know where to look.

Speaking of war, Austin said that’s why most of historic Charleston’s architecture still exists. After the Civil War, the owners abandoned them. They were left untouched for many years. When the city was repopulated, much of its history was intact, and the historic society sought to preserve it.

Now, there are strict rules about making changes to the houses. “You can let it deteriorate until it falls into ruin but can’t change it,” Austin said. I think he was being a little facetious, but he explained that there aren’t rules regarding changes to a home’s exterior in the historic district. However, the historical society must approve them, and they don’t support anything that isn’t preservation.  

2. Unique Porches called Piazzas and Double Stairs

I noticed two distinct porch styles repeated often in Charleston’s architecture. Many houses are a “Charleston single house,” meaning it has a long narrow side with a roof along the street with porches that run their length. The porches, called piazzas, are on the south or west side of the house to catch the wind. These were often wood houses, three or four stories tall, with various architectural styles. Each, however, had a door at the top of the exterior stairs that seemed rather senseless until Austin explained.

He said during colonial times; puritan sensibilities meant that women must cover themselves head to toe. Any man who saw a scandalous ankle might be obligated to marry her. Since it is often blazing hot in the summer, women would sit on the porch to catch the breeze. The door prevented anyone from accidentally seeing her ankles. I wonder what colonial society would think of how women dress today.

Likewise, the double staircase. Many of these homes had two connecting staircases leading to the main entryway—one on each side of the door. You might have guessed—those pesky ankles. One side was for ladies and the other for men, to keep them from seeing any ankles as the woman lifted her leg and dress to ascend.

3. Detailed wrought iron

The ironwork in Charleston is something worth noticing. The city has a large amount of wrought iron – which I learned is different than cast iron because it’s hand-hammered. Cast iron is mass-produced from molds. I saw wrought iron adorn many graceful gates and elegant windows in Charleston. Even the boot scrapers were made of wrought iron.  

The city features a bizarre number of chevaux-de-frise on fences. They’re sharp spikes on top of fences meant to keep you out or kill you if you try to climb over. They also have ornamental wrought iron grilles set into brick walls called clairvoyée that allow the passersby to view the garden. 

You won’t see as much decorative wrought iron in any other city in America that I’ve found.

4. Charleston-Style Colors

Charleston homes are well-known for their light coastal pastel colors. None are more famous than Rainbow Row along Bay Street, where each townhouse is painted a different pastel shade. The residential homes in pale yellow, blue-grey, sandy beige, and faint coral are of more interest to me. What other city has a color pallet that is so appealing? What other city has a color pallet at all? Maybe Key West.

Haint Blue

Many of the porch ceilings in Charleston are painted a light greyish blue color called “haint blue” The tradition comes from the Gullah Geechee people, who are the descendants of African enslaved people from the area. Haints are spirits or ghosts and the Gullah Geechee people believed haints can’t pass over water. Also, the blue looks like the sky. Since haints aren’t very smart, the blue confuses and keeps them out of the home.

5. Charleston Architecture Restoration and Preservation

The best thing about Charleston’s architecture is that it exists. Saving it and keeping it a passion everyone who lives, associates with and visits the city is passionate about.

You can pay to go inside several homes, and I went in two, one restoration and one preservation. The difference is a hot topic in historic districts, and I’ve learned not to ask too many questions. (I once wondered if or when a preservation might have some paint restoration and pissed off a guide).

• Preservation means they’ve left the house or property exactly as they found it, not even touching up the peeling paint, or changing anything, only doing enough repairs to ensure the property does not fall into further disrepair.
• Restoration means restoring what they have found to match a specific period to the best of their knowledge and ability. This might include sourcing rare materials, recreating patterns and designs and rediscovering old paint colors and other details.

6. Aiken Rhett house preservation

At 48 Elizabeth Street, the Aiken Rhett house is a Charleston single house, though to call a “single” anything seems deceiving. The house is enormous. It was built in 1820 and, after many additions, takes up most of a city block.

The property is doubly unique because it includes fully preserved slave quarters behind the house, which is where the tour begins. A self-guided audio tour starts in the yard and takes you through the kitchen, laundry, and stables. It recounts the lives of the enslaved people as best they could from poor records. It was a refreshing perspective on the history that didn’t immediately focus on the wealth and grandeur of the times as most do.

Once you’ve finished touring the yard, you head up a tall staircase inside the house. It’s immediately surprising to see the paint peeling in large pieces from the walls. Velvet wallpaper in the humid south and delicate textiles on the walls never stood a chance without climate control – and there was none, then or now. Still, it’s grand and ornate, despite the toll that time and weather have taken.

The audio said that this home abandoned and fell into disrepair after the Civil War. Because it was properly closed, it self-preserved. Despite their faded colors and worn fixtures, the rooms were grand spectacles and lavish beyond reason. How many parlors and ballrooms does one need? It’s fascinating to step back into time and see a home abandoned at the peak of wealth and a way of life gone, gone, gone – for the better.  

7. Nathaniel-Russell House Restoration

Historians have restored the Nathaniel-Russell, 51 Meeting Street, to its 1808 glory. They’ve repaired and replicated every inch, including the furniture and accessories, as they were during that period. It is considered one of America’s most critical neoclassical houses. This three-story Charleston single-family home was designed with entertaining in mind. Tables, chairs, and devices made of finest woods, porcelains, china and crystal are displayed in the many ballrooms, dining rooms, and parlors. The three-story, cantilevered, flying staircase is a rare architectural jewel.  

While there are quarters for enslaved people in the back of the home alongside beautiful gardens, there is comparatively little mention of them and how they facilitated the riches of these people and enabled their vaulted way of life. However, they are now restoring the enslaved quarters for a more detailed story in the future.

If we’re talking about Charleston’s architecture, I’d be remiss not to mention the famous cantilever staircase in this home. It’s a free-floating, three-story cantilevered staircase with each step supporting the one above and below it. It creates a graceful “S” shape throughout the entire center of the house.

8. A Peek into How Uber-Rich People Lived

Homes like these were for entertaining, visiting, and garish parties. Not for living as we do today. There were more spaces for showing off wealth and placing elaborate displays of art and finery than there were to sit. People rarely entertain anymore. The idea of hosting a dinner party is nearly obsolete.

Despite their size, there isn’t much to these houses. They’re gilded to the gills. People wanted showcase homes to impress, but there aren’t many rooms inside, just a few big fancy ones.

A Ballroom for your thoughts

As I walked these old neighborhoods and toured these grand homes, I wondered, “How many ballrooms does one person need? Many of these families owned several lavish homes. After slavery was abolished, most of these families went bankrupt.

Still, Charleston’s architecture gives us a rare and wonderful opportunity to live in history and explore these questions. To live like the richest and, lately, to better understand the enslaved. That makes it some important architecture worth seeing.

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