Name/Title
44 Charlotte Street (William Henry Houston House)Entry/Object ID
CHARLOTTE.044.01Scope and Content
Constructed 1834; rehabilitated 1966-74. With its piazzas facing the street in the plantation style, like its neighbor at 40 Charlotte Street, William Henry Houston's raised, 2½-story house overlooks the western edge of Mazyckborough. Substantial Greek Revival door architraves and oversized dormers with tripartite windows differentiate the Houston House from its more traditional neighbors. In the antebellum period, Houston added a stucco coping with Gothic Revival style piers and a wrought-iron fence to protect his front property line. Beginning his career as a carpenter in the neighborhood of Middlesex to the south, Houston became a wealthy building contractor and by the 1830s owned properties throughout Charleston, including seven houses on Charlotte Street alone. The Houston family lived at this address until the 1880s when it was sold at auction to the secretary of the Northeastern Railroad. After decades of 20th century neglect and two fires, it was rehabilitated by Historic Charleston Foundation as one its Rehabilitation Projects. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.)
Three files contain documentation of the covenant and related correspondence including "right of first refusal"; correspondence related to the subdivision of the building for condominiums; documentation of the sale of the property; annual inspection reports; requests for alterations; correspondence and other documentation related to the management of the property; house history (FRE, 1968); FOHG house histories for main house and kitchen building (undated); newspaper articles (including 1970 DYKYC); plat (1967); copy of HCF covenant property information card; invitation to HCF's rehabilitation project event (1968); documentation of HCF's purchase, restoration, and sale of the property.
See Covenant/Easement Inspection Photo Files for inspection photography.Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
CHARLOTTE.044.Source or Donor
44 Charlotte Street (William Henry Houston House)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
Search Terms
Charlotte Street, Mazyckborough and Wraggborough, Covenant Property, Before and after, Historic buildings--South Carolina--CharlestonArchive Details
Archive Size/Extent
1 Covenant Folder
1 Management Folder
1 History/Miscellaneous FolderArchive Notes
Finding Aids: Index to Property Files
Level of Description: FolderLocation
Location
Shelf
Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentDate
February 7, 2023Location
Container
PF Box 20Shelf
Prop File Shelves, Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentRelationships
Related Entries
Notes
CHARLOTTE.044.02, CHARLOTTE.044.03, CHARLOTTE.044.04, CHARLOTTE.044.05, CHARLOTTE.044.07, CHARLOTTE.044.08a-b
Related Units of Description: See also Easement Manager's working files for more information.Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 601Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
October 3, 2006Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
February 17, 2023