Name/Title
21 East Battery (Edmondston-Alston House)Entry/Object ID
EBATTERY.021.1Scope and Content
Constructed 1828; renovated 1838. This house was built in the Regency style by Charles Edmondston, a Scottish-born Charleston merchant, and remodeled by Charles Alston, a prominent rice planter, after he purchased the property in 1838. It reflects a modified Charleston single house plan with its front entry, accessing a separate vestibule on East Battery. Alston added a third tier with Corinthian columns to the side piazzas, a cast-iron balcony, and a surmounting parapet with the Alston coat of arms. Although changes were made to the exterior to accommodate Greek Revival fashion, the use of the structure most likely remained the same. Business visitors were received on the first floor, renovated in the Greek Revival manner by the Alstons; the drawing rooms on the second floor, where piazza doors could be thrown open to catch sea breezes or provide a backdrop for formal events, functioned as the family's social spaces and retain late Federal or Regency-style decoration. The two small rooms behind the drawing rooms served as separate withdrawing spaces for men and women, and the family bedrooms occupied the third floor. A substantial kitchen dependency is attached to the rear of the dwelling, while a separate stable and slave quarters remain at the back of the lot. Descending through Alston's daughter Susan Pringle Alston to her favorite cousin, the historian Henry Augustus Middleton Smith, the property has remained in the family. The house is currently shown as a museum administered by Middleton Place Foundation.
Sixteen files contain narrative histories; a variety of house tour interpretations (some dated, some not); newspaper articles (including DYKYC); historical background information about family members, etc.; architectural drawing; lease agreement and related correspondence between HCF and Charles Duell; publicity; HCF's Edmondston-Alston Committee minutes and other documents; documentation pertaining to the restoration of the garden; report entitled "The Rice Planting Industry in South Carolina as Revealed by the Careers of the Alston Family Rice Planters" by Sarah Upchurch (1983); documentation pertaining to chandeliers, the library, paint, wallpaper and textiles, furniture and furnishings, including "Recommendations Regarding the Furnishing of the Edmonston-Alston House" by Anne Golovin (1972); documentation relating to gifts and donations; house history (Middleton Place Foundation pamphlet) (illustrated with drawings of the house ca. 1825 and ca. 1838); HCF position on carriage house rehabilitation project (2007); booklet (and draft) by Thomas Savage and Jane Iseley (see 2005.020.4).Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
EBATTERY.021.Source or Donor
21 East Battery (Edmondston-Alston House)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
Search Terms
East Battery, Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston, Edmondston-Alston House (Charleston, S.C.)Archive Details
Archive Size/Extent
1 Document BoxArchive Notes
Finding Aids: Index to Property Files
Level of Description: Folder
System of Arrangement: Files arranged by general topic or subject area.Location
Location
Container
Document BoxShelf
HCF Misc ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentDate
February 7, 2023Relationships
Related Entries
Notes
2005.020.4, 2011.015.14a-c, 2011.022.039, EBATTERY.021.10a-d, EBATTERY.021.11a-c, EBATTERY.021.12a-c, EBATTERY.021.13, EBATTERY.021.14a-b, EBATTERY.021.15a-o, EBATTERY.021.16, EBATTERY.021.17, EBATTERY.021.2, EBATTERY.021.3, EBATTERY.021.4, EBATTERY.021.5, EBATTERY.021.6, EBATTERY.021.7, EBATTERY.021.8, EBATTERY.021.9
Related Units of Description: H.A. DeCosta Company invoice collection, 2009.011.1
Preservation Consultants files (Part I and/or Part II applications and/or photos and/or miscellaneous documentation), 2011.022.1Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 221-222General Notes
Note
Notes: Middleton Place Foundation pamphlet donated by Jerry Young (2009.009.).Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
June 28, 2007Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
February 17, 2023