89-91 Church Street (Catfish Row)

Archive

-

Historic Charleston Foundation

89-91 Church Street

89-91 Church Street

Name/Title

89-91 Church Street (Catfish Row)

Entry/Object ID

CHURCH.089-91.1

Scope and Content

Constructed ca. 1783; restoration 1928-30. A larger, 3-story version of the Hendricks tenements, this stucco building achieved fame as the setting for Dubose Heyward's famous novel Porgy and the subsequent libretto. Heyward knew the building well, not only because he lived in the next block but because he had previously rented the dependency across the street at 90 Church Street. Along with the Hendricks tenements, this structure was formerly known as Cabbage Row, but Heyward dubbed it "Catfish Row," its appellation thereafter, and it became the setting for Heyward's novel Porgy. Retaining its original fenestration, particularly its early-19th century shop fronts, the central passageway arch still boasts a late-18th century wrought-iron lunette with scrollwork and central pendant. Occupied for decades after the Civil War as a dense rooming house for as many as 100 African Americans, the building was purchased in 1928 by the wife of landscape architect Loutrel Briggs. Briggs restored the exterior, adding old woodwork to the upper interiors for rental apartments and renovating the gutted shells of the flanking rear outbuildings as new units. File contains HCF staff research notes; house history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; photos/illustration from newspaper; narrative history (with reference to Porgy); Rosen and Associates inspection report (1998, 2001).

Collection

Historic Charleston Foundation Property Records

Acquisition

Accession

CHURCH.089-91.

Source or Donor

89-91 Church Street (Catfish Row)

Acquisition Method

Collected by Staff

Lexicon

Search Terms

Church Street, Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston, African Americans--Housing

Legacy Lexicon

Object Name

Property File

Archive Details

Archive Size/Extent

1 File 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 26

Shelf

Prop File Shelves, Property File Shelves

Room

Margaretta P. Childs Archives

Building

Missroon House

Category

Permanent

Relationships

Related Person or Organization

Person or Organization

Heyward, Dubose

Related Entries

Notes

2009.010.1.9, 2011.015.65a-c, CHURCH.089-91.2, CHURCH.089-91.3, CHURCH.089-91.4a-b, CHURCH.089-91.5, CHURCH.089-91.6, CHURCH.089-91.7a-c

Related Publications

Notes

Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 79-80

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

January 16, 2007

Updated By

admin@catalogit.app

Update Date

February 16, 2023