Name/Title
164 King Street (Charleston Library Society)Entry/Object ID
KING.164.1Scope and Content
Constructed ca. 1914; additions 1970s, 1995-95. McGoodwin and Hawley, architects. Considered the third-oldest private library organization in the U.S., the Charleston Library Society was organized in 1748 by seventeen citizens of varying professions for the purposes of saving "their descendants from sinking into savagery." Its first collection was destroyed in the fire of 1778, and it was located on the third floor of the Charleston County Courthouse until 1836 when it bought the vacated building of the Bank of South Carolina at 50 Broad Street. The Philadelphia architects McGoodwin and Hawley designed a new structure for the organization in 1914 at this address. The Beaux Arts classical style building stands above a rusticated ground story with double pilasters topped by Ionic capitals separating five bays with arched openings. The stuccoed brick structure has marble detailing and a dentiled cornice capped by a paneled parapet. In recent years the society has expanded by connecting to adjacent historic structures. In 1995 they restored the surviving pressed-metal facade of 156-158 King Street, the former Carolina Rifles Building, circa 1870, constructing new spaces behind it. (Buildings of Charleston, Poston.)
File contains narrative history and chain-of-title (undated, unattributed); newspaper article (DYKYC); brief history from "Resources & Attractions of Charleston" (ca. 1898); photocopy of photograph from Gibbes Museum collection (undated); building history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; description from 1836 Charleston Directory; listing of 20th century residents from Old Codgers' Charleston Address Book.
Image #3 from 1967 King Street Photographic Survey.Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
KING.164.Source or Donor
164 King Street (Charleston Library Society)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
LOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
Private librariesSearch Terms
King Street, Charleston Library Society (Charleston, S.C.), 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 52Shelf
Prop File Shelves, Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentLocation
Container
2Shelf
Prop File Shelves, Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentRelationships
Related Entries
Notes
2021.017.19, KING.158-160.1, KING.164.2
Related Units of Description: King Street Survey (KING.GEN.001) and King Street "General" files (KING.GEN.002).Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 355Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
November 10, 2008Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
February 17, 2023