Name/Title
54 Hasell Street (Col. William Rhett House)Entry/Object ID
HASELL.054.1Scope and Content
Constructed 1712-1728; altered 1800; restored and renovated 1950. Long tradition has set the date of construction of this substantial stuccoed brick house on a half basement at 1712, thus making it one of the oldest houses in the city. It is actually constructed well outside the original walled city limits and was part of "Point Plantation," a tract first acquired by the New England émigré Jonathan Amory. Amory died in 1699 and his brick house burned in 1707. The vacant tract of 20 acres, 11 adjacent lots, and 8 acres of marsh was then acquired and renamed "Rhettsbury" by Col. William Rhett, a leading merchant often remembered for his capture and prosecution of the loathed pirate Stede Bonnet. Rhett had completed the house by at least the time of his death in 1728, when his estate inventory described the furnishings in a house of similar description. The house is of a slightly asymmetrical floor plan with 2 adjoining larger rooms on the west and 2 smaller rooms separated by a central hall on the eastern end. The Rococo ornament in the dining room of the house was probably added in the 3rd quarter of the 18th century, while other substantial changes were made in about 1800, with a north-west addition and other alterations to interior woodwork. In 1730 Col. William Rhett's widow married the colony's chief justice Nicholas Trott and the property was briefly called "Trott's Point." After Trott's death the "Rhettsbury" appellation returned and the plantation was subdivided for his granddaughters Susannah Hasell Quince and Mary Hasell Ancrum. In 1807 the house and remaining grounds were sold to Christopher Fitzsimmons, a wealthy wharf owner. It was here that his grandson, Wade Hampton, later a noted Confederate lieutenant general and governor of South Carolina, was born in 1818. The piazzas on both the east and west ends were added in the early-19th century, following the development of the streets of Rhettsbury around the house. The steps and entry on the west end are older than those on the east, which were added in the 1940s. The garden was designed by New York landscape architect Umberto Innocenti in the 1940s. Several owners used or rented the structure as a boardinghouse in the 1920s and 1930s. It is generally rumored that it was used as a "house of assignation" during this period, following the decline of the neighborhood around it. In 1941 Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin A. Kittredge Jr. of New York, owners of Dean Hall Plantation and creators of its famous Cypress Gardens on the Cooper River, purchased the property. The Kittredges thoroughly restored the house and it became the first significant renovation in the neighborhood. (Poston: Buildings of Charleston.)
File contains house histories (unattributed, undated); house history from Vernacular Architecture of Charleston; house history from Architectural Guide to Charleston; newspaper and deed research notes; realtor document entitled "Distinguishing Characteristics" (2015); newspaper articles (including 1984 DYKYC); inventory of Col. William Rhett; copy of early (undated) plat and hand-drawn copy of 1941 plat; copy of ARP photograph; Sanborn Maps (1884, 1888, 1944); copies of four titles; "Remembering Rhettsbury" (Butler, 2018); interior paint study (Buck, 2018); Cultural Landscape Report (Clemson HP Grad Students, 2018).Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
HASELL.054.Source or Donor
54 Hasell Street (Col. William Rhett House)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
Search Terms
Hasell Street, Ansonborough, Ansonborough Rehabilitation Project (ARP), Historic buildings--South Carolina--CharlestonArchive Details
Archive Size/Extent
1 File 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 46Shelf
Prop File Shelves, Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentRelationships
Related Entries
Notes
2005.004.023, 2006.005.030-031, 2006.010.236-237, 2009.016.2f, 2011.015.39, HASELL.054.2, HASELL.054.3a-b, HASELL.054.4a-b, HASELL.054.5a-c, HASELL.054.6, HASELL.054.7, HASELL.054.8, HASELL.054.9
Related Units of Description: See also "Ansonborough" document box, Preservation Topics shelves.
See Charles N. Bayless photograph of the dependency at 56 Hasell Street.Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 447-448
FOH Tour booklets on Lowcountry Digital LibraryGeneral Notes
Note
Notes: Photos in this record from Whit Smith Loan.Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
July 17, 2008Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
February 17, 2023