Georgian Architecture
by Robert Stockton
Charleston’s colonial high style was based on English architecture of the period. Its popularity coincided with the reigns of George I, II and III, and therefore is called Georgian. Another term, Palladian, reflects the influence of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio.
Georgian Palladianism emphasized symmetry, in balanced facades and floor plans. The central hall derived from Palladio’s symmetrical villa designs. The English introduced the ceremonial staircase into the central hall.
Charleston’s wealthy rice planters and merchants had the means and the taste for high style architecture. They traveled often to London and collected books on architecture. Some were “gentlemen architects.”
Miles Brewton, who built his grand house at 27 King Street, ca. 1769, may have designed it himself. Its double portico was inspired by designs in Palladio’s Four Books of Architecture. The elaborately carved woodwork, inside and out, was mostly designed and executed by Ezra Waite, an artisan from London.
Miles Brewton House, 27 King St. ca. 1769
Another widely acclaimed example of Georgian-Palladian architecture is Drayton Hall which is on view for those who purchase a ticket. Rather than having been restored, the house survives as an artifact in near original condition, and shows a striking resemblance to designs in Palladio’s books. (Take a visit, a shuttle is offered daily, and the tour guides have the reputation for being some of Charleston’s best informed guides. )
Adams Style
by Robert Stockton
the Mantel and moldings of the drawing rooms show the delicacy and lightness of scale typical of adamesque architecture.
Excavations at Pompeii helped create an international style. Charleston has no shortage of examples.
The Timothy Ford House at 54 Meeting Street, built ca. 1800, has some of the best Adamesque architectural features in the city. Ford, a New Jersey native, built his home in the popular style named for the British architects, Robert and James Adam. The style was inspired by archaeological excavations at Pompeii, a Roman city buried by ash from a volcanic eruption in 79 A.D. Dug up by scholars, the ruins revealed that Roman private homes were more humanly scaled than the great temples and palaces on which Renaissance architecture was based. A new emphasis on slender columns, delicate forms, classical figures and gesso ornamentation, created an international style. The Ford House has an abundance of such detail in its well-proportioned rooms. The Charleston single house is the home of Dr. and Mrs. A. Bert Pruitt.
