32 Legare Street (Sword Gate House)

Archive

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Historic Charleston Foundation

32 Legare Street (ca. 1980s): Copyright: Thomas Ford photo; Origsize: 8x10; Origformat: Print-Photographic; Resolution: 150 dpi
32 Legare Street (ca. 1980s)

Copyright: Thomas Ford photo; Origsize: 8x10; Origformat: Print-Photographic; Resolution: 150 dpi

Name/Title

32 Legare Street (Sword Gate House)

Entry/Object ID

LEGARE.032.1

Scope and Content

Constructed before 1810; renovated 20th century; additions 1840s. The wrought-iron gates leading to this property from Legare Street bear an elaborate sword and spear design and were made by the ironworker Christopher Werner "by mistake" when he was completing a similar pair for the Charleston Guardhouse in 1830. The gates were installed by 1850 by George Hopley, Charleston's British consul. The 3-story wooden house with fanlighted piazzas had been completed before 1810 by Solomon Legare and sold nearly a decade later to the Talvande family, refugees from Santo Domingo. Madame Talvande's girls' school was considered the best by Charleston's elite in the 1820s and 1830s. By tradition, the high brick walls were added to enclose the property during this period. Before Hopley's purchase of the property in 1849 a large stuccoed brick section was added to the building. Passing through a number of owners, including the daughter of Robert Todd Lincoln, the property was subdivided. Its brick wing became an inn [111 Tradd Street]. The setback of this edifice perhaps inspired that of the Colonial Revival house next door at 26 Legare Street, which was built by the Whaley family, and entirely refaced several decades later by the next owners, the T. Wilbur Thornhills. (Buildings of Charleston.) File contains FOHG house histories (undated, 1992, 1999, 2004?); FOHG house history research notes (undated, unattributed); SC Historical Society Tour house history (1976); historical research report (undated, unattributed); newspaper articles (including DYKYC); house history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; correspondence regarding an application to subdivide the property (1959); correspondence regarding ballroom/dining room mirrors (2001); copy of wedding license of G.A. Hopley (installer of the Sword Gate) dated 7/26/1856; copy of will of George A. Hopley (7/18/1857) referencing a free woman of color; landscape plan showing location of proposed greenhouse (Wertimer, 2000) with drawings of greenhouse (Keyes, 2001) (no indication if plans were executed); photocopy of article "Historic Schools of Legare Street" by Sarah Fick (Preservation Progress, v. 54, n. 1).

Collection

Historic Charleston Foundation Property Records

Acquisition

Accession

LEGARE.032.

Source or Donor

32 Legare Street (Swordgate House)

Acquisition Method

Collected by Staff

Lexicon

Search Terms

Legare Street, National Register of Historic Places, Eighteenth-Century Expansion, Sword Gate House (Charleston, S.C.), 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 62

Shelf

Prop File Shelves, Property File Shelves

Room

Margaretta P. Childs Archives

Building

Missroon House

Category

Permanent

Location

Container

2

Shelf

Prop File Shelves, Property File Shelves

Room

Margaretta P. Childs Archives

Building

Missroon House

Category

Permanent

Relationships

Related Entries

Notes

2005.011.010, 2006.013.3C, 2020.005.3-4, LEGARE.032.10a-b, LEGARE.032.2, LEGARE.032.3, LEGARE.032.4, LEGARE.032.5, LEGARE.032.6a-d, LEGARE.032.7, LEGARE.032.8, LEGARE.032.9 Related Units of Description: 111 Tradd Street Property File (Sword Gate Inn) Article "The Historic Schools of Legare Street" (in LEGARE.GEN.1)

Related Publications

Notes

Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 249-250

General Notes

Note

Notes: Image in this record from A Walk Around Ye Olde Charleston (2005.001.002). Hopley wedding license provided by Sarah Fick, 2/23/2011, with this note: Karen, thru the Halsey Map project I've been corresponding with a Hopley family member in England. Attached is an interesting document - the wedding license of GA Hopley, who's the one who installed the Sword Gate at 32 Legare. Can you save it in your property file? (Note that we did not know Hopley married in England!) Formerly the site of Madame Talvande's Select School for Young Ladies.

Created By

admin@catalogit.app

Create Date

February 9, 2010

Updated By

admin@catalogit.app

Update Date

February 17, 2023