Name/Title
64 South Battery (William Gibbes House)Entry/Object ID
SBATTERY.064.1Scope and Content
Constructed ca. 1772; altered ca. 1795-1810; restored and altered 1929; restored 1986. Once the house of one of Charleston's wealthiest pre-Revolutionary merchant-planters, the dwelling presently known as 64 South Battery was intended to be viewed, not from the street, but from the Ashley River channel by boats approaching Gibbes's impressive 300-foot wharf. Adjacent to the wharf the owner had a host of stores, warehouse support structures, and a coffeehouse. Gibbes completed this wood double house with elaborate tabernacle-framed windows and console-bracketed central pediment in 1772; he enjoyed the property only briefly. In the occupation of Charleston in 1780 Gibbes was interned in St. Augustine, his family was evicted from the house, and the building was used as a hospital by the British army. A room-by-room inventory taken after Gibbes's death in 1789 mentioned extensive furnishings in rooms such as those on the first floor described as the "Front Blue Parlour" and the "Front Wainscot Parlour." Gibbes kept twenty-two slaves on his town property. The estate sold the property to Sarah Moore Smith, a widow, in 1794. Mrs. Smith or her son Peter made significant alterations to the house with Neoclassical mantels and door surrounds in the large upstairs drawing room and adjoining chamber, and a Federal style wrought-iron balustrade and columns in the large central hall. Mrs. Smith was the grandmother of the famous Sarah and Angelina Grimké, abolitionists and pioneers of women's rights who grew up at 321 East Bay Street. In 1928 Cornelia Roebling of New York, a native of South Carolina and daughter-in-law of the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, bought the house and made a number of alterations, including the installation of a an 18th century chinoiserie style room on the first floor and an extensive garden designed by Loutrel Briggs. Briggs rediscovered the double-axial parterre of the late-18th century in the eastern front yard and restored it as a rose garden for Mrs. Roebling. He augmented the rest of the site with additional features including an allée and a garden pool with a fountain in the best Colonial Revival manner, completing this project in 1933. The grounds of the William Gibbes site offer a unique perspective on an elite Charleston town property in evolution since the 18th century. The original kitchen and washhouse and the antebellum stable-carriage house block of brick and tabby construction with tile roofing have survived largely intact, although the stable was converted to garages with servants' rooms above in 1929-30. Other early landscape features include the brick wall with arched, stuccoed recesses that surrounds the 140-by-268 foot lot (.83 acres), constructed in the 1830s; a brick privy (or "rabbit house" in Albert Simons's 1929 drawing); and a "tea house" with romantic curvilinear gables shading a marble relief, identical to that on the family tomb at Magnolia Plantation. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.)
Nine folders contain documentation of the easement on the property including related correspondence and Confirmation of Understanding; Part I certification (National Register); documentation related to the sale of the property including letter of conceptual approval (Jan. 2006); annual inspection reports, requests for alterations, and correspondence related to the management of the property; correspondence and other documentation related to HCF's purchase and sale of the property including appraisal; FOHG house histories (1956, 1966, 1968, 1991 [dependency], 1994, 2001) and other tour interpretations including HCF's vernacular architecture tour; narrative histories and architectural descriptions including building history from Architectural Guide to Charleston (by Simons & Thomas); newspaper articles (including 1975, DYKYC); entry from 60 Famous Houses; historical/chain-of-title research information; copy of HCF easement information; archaeological report; copies of HABS photos; graduate student research project: chain-of-title, documentation of the enslaved, documentation of outbuilding(s) (Morris, 2020).
See Easement Documentation Photo Files for easement donation photographs (Exh. B to Deed of Conservation Easement) and Covenant/Easement Inspection Photo Files for inspection photography.Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
SBATTERY.064.Source or Donor
64 South Battery (William Gibbes House)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
Search Terms
South Battery, Easement Property, National Register of Historic Places, Loutrel Briggs garden, Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston, Historic gardensArchive Details
Archive Size/Extent
2 Gift Folders
1 Management Folder
6 History/Miscellaneous Info FoldersArchive Notes
Finding Aids: Index to Property Files.
Level of Description: Folder
System of Arrangement: Gift Folder 1: Easement Donation & HCF's Sale to Easement Donor
Gift Folder 2: Subsequent, Post-Donation Ownership
Management Folder
Hist/Misc Folder 1: Narrative House Histories/Architecture
Hist/Misc Folder 2: Historical and Chain-of-Title Research, Property Information
Hist/Misc Folder 3: Articles from Publications
Hist/Misc Folder 4: HCF's Purchase of the Property
Hist/Misc Folder 5: House Tour Interpretations
Hist/Misc Folder 6: ArchaeologyLocation
Location
Shelf
Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentDate
February 7, 2023Location
Container
PF Box 97Shelf
Prop File Shelves, Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentRelationships
Related Entries
Notes
2005.003.0185, 2005.011.019, 2006.007.51, 2009.002.075, 2009.010.1.34, 2011.015.2a-k, 2014.015.15, 2014.015.16, 2017.005.16a-d, 2020.005.34, 2020.005.9, HUGO.002.037, SBATTERY.064.2, SBATTERY.064.3, SBATTERY.064.4, SBATTERY.064.5a-c, SBATTERY.064.6, SBATTERY.064.7, SBATTERY.064.8
Related Units of Description: See also HALS/Loutrel Briggs Garden Survey (2007.016.1).
See also Easement Manager's working files for more information.Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 276-277
FOH Tour booklets on Lowcountry Digital LibraryGeneral Notes
Note
Notes: HCF purchased the house in 1984 to protect it from being subdivided and converted into condominiums.Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
April 12, 2012Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
February 17, 2023