Elizabeth, You mention searching for your ancestor's home on Saint Philip St. My gg-grandfather, Simon SCHERMER, bought the house at #54 on the east side of Saint Philip St. in 1847. I was told by the College of Charleston that it was demolished about 1949, and the Simons Fine Arts Center is now at this location. Following is a message I received from my son last year: "Dad, I made it to Charleston College and went by #54 Saint Philip Street. The Simons Center for the Fine Arts is there now, just like you said. But, there is an old historic house right next to it, last one on the campus as far as I could see. This house says "Dean of Fine Arts" out front and the address it #44. It is a simple two story house in the same style as most of the other simple ones in the city from that age. The building style is a result of the taxes imposed on dwellings, which were based on the street-front length of the house and the number of doors opening directly to the street. As a result, most houses are only one room wide but go back two rooms deep (away from the street). They have a name like "1 by 2" or something like that. Also, none of them have doors opening to the street because of the extra tax. Instead, they have porches, usually a double decker porch, on the windward side of the house, facing the direction to the harbor. The entrance door is off of this porch. After the door tax was abolished some people put doors on the street side of their porches. These houses look strange, with big fancy doors leading to their porches from the street. Anyhow, the dean either lives or works in one of these old houses, colored gray, at #44 Saint Phillip Street. Hope this helps a little, Elizabeth. And, thanks for sharing all your Charleston researching experiences. Daniel Daniel J. Kortenkamp, Ph.D. dkortenk@uwsp.edu Dept. of Psychology University of Wisconsin fax: 715 346-2778 Stevens Point, WI 54481 http://www.uwsp.edu/acad/psych/dk/danielpg.htm > -----Original Message----- > From: Elizabeth Russo [mailto:elizabethrusso@home.com] Friday, May 05, 2000 9:17 PM > > As productive as my trip to Charleston was, I am still kicking myself > SNIP > But here is a lesson I learned the hard way. Before the trip, I had > posted some queries about locating my ancestors' exact places > of living > and business. I had gotten some promising leads from the Charleston > City Directories which gave the street addresses for several of my > surnames, including my 6X grandfather, PETER DUBOIS, who was > listed one > year as living at 22 St. Philips, and another year at 28 St. > Philips. > SNIP > For the entire block consisted of parking garages and college > buildings > for the College of Charleston, with not a colonial or antebellum era > building in sight. > >

Daniel, I checked in The Buildings of Charleston by Jonathan H. Poston. There was no mention of #44 or #57 St. Philip Street but you might be interested in some of the other entries which could give you an idea of what the neighborhood looked like in the 1840s and 50s. They also demonstrate another notable aspect of Charleston - just because a house isn't at its old address doesn't necessarily mean it no longer exists. #15, 17, & 19 St. Philip Street were built by John S. Riggs 1859-60 along with #88-90 Wentworth St. as rental units. #25 St. Philip Street was built by James Denton circa 1798. There have been Victorian changes and it was moved to #26 Coming Street in 1977. #34 St. Philip Street was built by Baisle Lanneau, probably between 1782 and 1787, and moved in 1977 by the Preservation Society to #2 Pitt Street. If #54 was demolished in 1949 there might be old photographs of it (perhaps at Charleston College) and you might be able to at least see its footprint in the old fire insurance maps at the South Carolina Historical Society. Ken Kortenkamp, Daniel wrote: > Elizabeth, > > You mention searching for your ancestor's home on Saint Philip St. My > gg-grandfather, Simon SCHERMER, bought the house at #54 on the east side of > Saint Philip St. in 1847. I was told by the College of Charleston that it > was demolished about 1949, and the Simons Fine Arts Center is now at this > location. Following is a message I received from my son last year: > > "Dad, I made it to Charleston College and went by #54 Saint Philip Street. > The Simons Center for the Fine Arts is there now, just like you said. But, > there is an old historic house right next to it, last one on the campus > as far as I could see. This house says "Dean of Fine Arts" out front and > the address it #44. It is a simple two story house in the same style as > most of the other simple ones in the city from that age. The building > style is a result of the taxes imposed on dwellings, which were based on > the street-front length of the house and the number of doors opening > directly > to the street. As a result, most houses are only one room wide but go > back two rooms deep (away from the street). They have a name like "1 by 2" > or something like that. Also, none of them have doors opening to the street > because of the extra tax. Instead, they have porches, usually a double > decker porch, on the windward side of the house, facing the direction to the > harbor. The entrance door is off of this porch. After the door tax was > abolished some people put doors on the street side of their porches. These > houses look strange, with big fancy doors leading to their porches from the > street. Anyhow, the dean either lives or works in one of these old houses, > colored gray, at #44 Saint Phillip Street. > > Hope this helps a little, Elizabeth. And, thanks for sharing all your > Charleston researching experiences. > > Daniel > > Daniel J. Kortenkamp, Ph.D. dkortenk@uwsp.edu > Dept. of Psychology > University of Wisconsin fax: 715 346-2778 > Stevens Point, WI 54481 > http://www.uwsp.edu/acad/psych/dk/danielpg.htm > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Elizabeth Russo [mailto:elizabethrusso@home.com] Friday, May 05, > 2000 9:17 PM > > > > As productive as my trip to Charleston was, I am still kicking myself > > SNIP > > > But here is a lesson I learned the hard way. Before the trip, I had > > posted some queries about locating my ancestors' exact places > > of living > > and business. I had gotten some promising leads from the Charleston > > City Directories which gave the street addresses for several of my > > surnames, including my 6X grandfather, PETER DUBOIS, who was > > listed one > > year as living at 22 St. Philips, and another year at 28 St. > > Philips. > > SNIP > > > For the entire block consisted of parking garages and college > > buildings > > for the College of Charleston, with not a colonial or antebellum era > > building in sight. > > > > > > ==== SCCHARLE Mailing List ==== > Lots of holdings on Charleston County Families > South Carolina Historical Society > http://www.schistory.org