55 East Bay Street (Jonathan Simpson House)

Archive

-

Historic Charleston Foundation

Name/Title

55 East Bay Street (Jonathan Simpson House)

Entry/Object ID

EBAY.055.1

Scope and Content

Constructed ca. 1782-85; partially restored 1960s, 1985. A British merchant with a fleet of ships engaged in Atlantic and Caribbean trade built a most up-to date house on Charleston's East Bay waterfront after buying this lot from the Pinckney family property to the north in the early 1780s. The entry architrave with engaged Tuscan columns, pediment, and semicircular fanlight appear to be derived from the pattern book of the English builder William Pain. The front room originally served as a countinghouse, and the staircase in the large rear hall climbs to a drawing room with Adamesque detailing stretching across the front of the second floor. This room accesses an exterior wrought-iron balcony with motif of interlocking curves. Owned by various merchants and an Episcopal minister, the house declined in the 20th century and holds the dubious distinction of housing one of the final houses of prostitution in this part of Charleston, last raided by the police in 1958. It was restored as a single family residence a few years later. An alley shared with the house next door accesses an original brick kitchen building restored as a separate residence. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.) File contains FOHG house history (1983, 1990s); newspaper article; copy of pattern book design of doorway by William Pain. No image on file.

Collection

Historic Charleston Foundation Property Records

Acquisition

Accession

EBAY.055.

Source or Donor

55 East Bay Street (Jonathan Simpson House)

Acquisition Method

Collected by Staff

Lexicon

Search Terms

East Bay Street, Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston

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 33

Shelf

Prop File Shelves, Property File Shelves

Room

Margaretta P. Childs Archives

Building

Missroon House

Category

Permanent

Relationships

Related Entries

Notes

2011.015.16

Related Publications

Notes

Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 96-97

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

July 9, 2007

Updated By

admin@catalogit.app

Update Date

February 17, 2023