This book is about how a consistently high standard of excellence was achieved in Charleston architecture in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Regardless of what style Charleston's architects used—Greek or Roman, Gothic or Renaissance, Adamesque or Greek Revival—they were in agreement about what constituted excellence. Special emphasis is placed on the knowledge that was required to create Charleston's early architecture. An introduction discusses the writings and buildings of Andrea Palladio, Robert Adam, A. Welby Pugin, and other influential architects. Sources of inspiration for Charleston buildings have included specific buildings in Greece, Italy, England, France and Germany. Whenever possible, primary sources of information were used to determine how various types of Charleston buildings were designed and constructed. A dozen of the city's best-documented buildings are considered in detail as a basis for comparison:
Houses: a list of all expenses to construct a row of five row houses from 1709–1711; a comprehensive set of building accounts for a double house designed in c. 1745; and a contract for a Charleston Single House designed in 1789
Religious Buildings: accounts of the construction of two Anglican churches built from c. 1721–1723 and from 1752–1761; a Congregational church and a Baptist church designed by the first American architect; the first Reform synagogue in the United States; and Unitarian and Episcopal churches with Gothic fan vaulting
Public Buildings: architectural drawings for an exchange and custom house designed in 1766; complete records for constructing a state administrative building that set a new standard for construction and that introduced the Greek Revival style in Charleston; a federal custom house that was initially designed locally; and a municipal orphan house in the Italianate style.
These buildings are compared with hundreds of others of similar types and styles to reveal what was most characteristic and most distinctive about Charleston architecture.
This book also contains a summary of information available before 1740, an analysis of buildings depicted in the 1740 view of the city, a survey of nearly three thousand surviving Single Houses, a review of the principal buildings that existed in 1826, a study of the origins of the Greek Revival style, a comparison of the influence of Jefferson and Latrobe on Mills, a discussion of how the Greek and Roman orders were adapted, and a section on the characteristics of Adamesque architecture. Appendices included a list of all architecture books known to have been available in Charleston from 1751–1856, data on the number of houses that existed at various times from 1672–1861, and studies of building types such as rice mills and design features such as the piazza.
Over 600 illustrations are included of the best-designed and most typical buildings in Charleston and the most influential sources of design. The illustrations consist of historic photographs, drawings, and views; numerous measured drawings and maps; and more than two hundred recently taken photographs.
