Name/Title
126 Tradd Street (Dr. Peter Fayssoux House)Entry/Object ID
TRADD.126.1Scope and Content
Constructed ca. 1732; restored 1965. Beginning as a 2-story house with an asymmetrical floor plan like those at 59 Church and 94 Broad, this early dwelling evolved through several periods of alteration. Surviving interior corner posts still visible in the front rooms have often been noted as the building's most unusual architectural feature and as an indication of its construction by a carpenter accustomed to 17th century English building techniques. In the antebellum period a double-tiered piazza was appended to the west elevation. Other alterations in the 19th and early-20th centuries include the construction of a brick ell on the rear of the house and the removal of the front street door. Probably built by tailor Alexander Smith between 1732 and 1740, the house became the property of Anne Fayssoux and her husband Dr. Peter Fayssoux, surgeon general of the Continental army in the Revolution. One of their descendants who grew up in the house, Gen. Bernard Elliott Bee, supposedly gave Gen. Thomas J. Jackson his famous nickname, saying "there stands Jackson like a stone wall." In 1863 Charles O. Witte acquired the Fayssoux house and used it as one of his many rental properties. Beatrice Witte Ravenel inherited the house, and her daughter Beatrice St. Julien Ravenel restored it as her residence in 1965, adding the long subdivided back lot to the parcel. Miss Ravenel is best remembered for her scholarly book The Architects of Charleston.
Three files contain documentation of the easement on the property including related correspondence and Confirmation of Understanding; correspondence related to IRS's zero valuation; annual inspection reports, requests for alterations, and correspondence related to the management of the property; narrative history (Harlan Greene, 1960s?); FOHG house history (1970s?); Preservation Progress articles about restoration (Nov. 1965) and receipt of Carolopolis award (Jan. 1975); two brochures for "The Kitchen House" (use as rental).
See Easement Documentation Photo Files for easement donation photographs (Exh. B to Deed of Conservation Easement) and Covenant/Easement Inspection Photo Files for inspection photography.Collection
Historic Charleston Foundation Property RecordsAcquisition
Accession
TRADD.126.Source or Donor
126 Tradd Street (Dr. Peter Fayssoux House)Acquisition Method
Collected by StaffLexicon
Search Terms
Tradd Street, Easement Property, Eighteenth-Century Expansion, Historic buildings--South Carolina--CharlestonArchive Details
Archive Size/Extent
1 Gift Folder
1 Management Folder
1 History/Miscellaneous 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 105Shelf
Prop File Shelves, Property File ShelvesRoom
Margaretta P. Childs ArchivesBuilding
Missroon HouseCategory
PermanentRelationships
Related Entries
Notes
2017.011.11, TRADD.126.2, TRADD.126.3
Related Units of Description: Easement Manager's working filesRelated Publications
Notes
Buildings of Charleston (see Abstract), pg. 288-289Created By
admin@catalogit.appCreate Date
June 26, 2012Updated By
admin@catalogit.appUpdate Date
February 17, 2023