69 Church Street (Capers-Motte House)

Archive

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Historic Charleston Foundation

69 Church Street

69 Church Street

Name/Title

69 Church Street (Capers-Motte House)

Entry/Object ID

CHURCH.069.1

Scope and Content

Constructed ca. 1750; altered early-19th century; additional restorations 1971. One of the largest pre-Revolutionary houses in the city, this dwelling has been the home of several notable South Carolinians. Both Richard Capers and Jordan Roche owned the property successively, and one of them was responsible for the mid-18th century construction on the site. Roche's niece, Rebecca Brewton Motte, with her husband, the public treasurer Jacob Motte, leased the house from 1761 until the death of the latter in 1770. The structure is an unusually large form of the pre-Revolutionary double house with 3 full floors, excavated cellar, and spacious garret. In the early-1800s a subsequent owner closed the front door, converted the front rooms to a 19th century double parlor, and added piazzas on the south elevation. Later the surviving outbuildings were renovated in the Gothic Revival style. In 1869 the widow Eliza Middleton Huger Smith (Mrs. William Mason Smith) purchased the property. A daughter of Sen. Daniel Elliott Huger of 34 Meeting Street, Mrs. Smith's plantation house at Smithfield, in St. Bartholomew's Parish south of the city, was burned by Sherman's troops in 1865. Her granddaughter, Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, became Charleston's first chronicler of the city's architecture and is one of the most celebrated artists of the early-20th century Charleston Renaissance. After Miss Smith's death in 1958, 69 Church Street passed out of the Smith family. A subsequent owner removed the piazzas and restored a conjectural central entrance door to the street elevation in 1971. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.) Files contain documentation of the easement on the property including related correspondence and Confirmation of Understanding (unsigned); Part I certification application; annual inspection reports, requests for alterations, and correspondence related to the management of the property; BAR application (8/2000); FOHG house history (various dates) including description of the garden; newspaper articles (including DYKYC); excerpts (house histories) Information for Guides of Historic Charleston, The Vernacular Architecture of Charleston & the Lowcountry, and Architectural Guide to Charleston; architectural analysis (unattributed, undated); physical description and statement of significance (from Part I application); historical/chain-of-title research information; Sanborn maps; excerpts from "Dwelling Houses of Charleston," "Alice Ravenel Huger Smith of Charleston," and "Charleston Gardens"; Jacob Motte estate inventory (1770); copies of HABS photos; graduate student research project: chain-of-title, documentation of the enslaved, documentation of outbuilding(s) (Galli, 2020); photocopy of homeowner's property research notebook documenting the ownership of the house via abstracts of title from 1680-1872, including copies of plats and photographs dated 1961. 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 Records

Acquisition

Accession

CHURCH.069.

Source or Donor

69 Church Street (Capers-Motte House)

Acquisition Method

Collected by Staff

Lexicon

Search Terms

Church Street, Easement Property, Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston

Legacy Lexicon

Object Name

Property File

Archive Details

Archive Size/Extent

1 Gift Folder 1 Management Folder 1 History/Miscellaneous Folder

Archive Notes

Finding Aids: Index to Property Files Level of Description: Folder

Location

Location

Shelf

Property File Shelves

Room

Margaretta P. Childs Archives

Building

Missroon House

Category

Permanent

Date

February 7, 2023

Location

Container

PF Box 25

Shelf

Prop File Shelves, Property File Shelves

Room

Margaretta P. Childs Archives

Building

Missroon House

Category

Permanent

Relationships

Related Entries

Notes

2011.015.49, 2013.010.02, CHURCH.069.2, CHURCH.069.3, CHURCH.069.4a-b, CHURCH.069.5, CHURCH.069.6a-b Related Units of Description: See also Easement Manager's working files for more information.

Related Publications

Notes

Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 71-72 FOH Tour booklets on Lowcountry Digital Library

General Notes

Note

Notes: Household inventory (ca. 1776-1784) discovered missing from file, Jan. 2020.

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

January 4, 2007

Updated By

admin@catalogit.app

Update Date

February 17, 2023