Name/Title
18 Montagu Street (Benjamin Smith House) / 28½ Pitt StreetEntry/Object ID
MONTAGU.018.1Scope and Content
Constructed before 1788. Goose Creek planter Benjamin Smith, a delegate to the Constitutional Ratification Convention, built this suburban retreat soon after the Revolution. This structure housed some of the most distinguished residents of the village. Smith lived here and sold it in 1811 to Chancellor William Henry DeSaussure, the first director of the U.S. Mint and supervisor of the coining of the first American silver dollars. Although considerably altered on the exterior with double-tiered Greek Revival piazzas and double windows, the house retains much interior Georgian woodwork from the Smith period, particularly in the second-story drawing room. The hurricane of 1811 wreaked considerable havoc on the house. A local newspaper account described the damage to the mansion, reporting that, "one of the chimneys was thrown down and a part of the family who were in an upper room at the time were precipitated with the falling bricks, through two floors into the kitchen." The carriage house at 28½ Pitt Street, a two-story brick structure, was converted in 1949 into two apartments. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.)
File contains newspaper article (1971 DYKYC); house history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; handwritten staff research "source notes" (scant); brief mention of 18 Montagu receiving a Preservation Society award for its restoration (with photo) (May 1959); newspaper article "Conversion of Slave Quarters Completes Remodeling Job" [28½ Pitt Street] (1949).
.Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
MONTAGU.018.Source or Donor
18 Montagu Street (Benjamin Smith House)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
Search Terms
Montagu Street, Harleston Village, Historic buildings--South Carolina--CharlestonArchive Details
Archive Size/Extent
1 File Folder (3 p.)Archive 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 76Shelf
Prop File Shelves, Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentRelationships
Related Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 531Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
October 6, 2010Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
February 17, 2023