Josiah Kilgore House
Historic Property
Alternate Name:
Kilgore - Lewis House
Street Address:
N. Church and Academy St., Greenville, South Carolina (Greenville County)
Site Number:
90 (33-1-11)
Date Surveyed:
circa 1981
Category:
Building
Construction Date:
1838
Historic Use:
Residential/Domestic
Current Use:
Other
Number of Stories:
2
Construction Method:
Frame
Foundation Materials:
Brick
Roof Shape:
Gable
Signficant Architectural Features:
2 story frame house - Raised 2 story portico supported by square capped columns. Bracketing under eaves. Ocular window in bracketed Palladian 9/9 light sash with sidelights on facade. Central doorway with sidelights and keystoned fan transom on facade. Central doorway on upper facade has flat transom and sidelights.
Description: The house is of heart pine, and two story L-shaped design on a low foundation. Shiplap is used in the protected areas under the porches while the remainder of the exterior is clapboard. The first floor of the front facade features 9/9 Palladian derived windows with 9/6 windows on the second floor. The square columned portico in Palladian stance rises two stories and is capped by a pediment of plain design with oculus. The six-panel double door with fanlight and sidelights, and the panels beneath the central second story window, continue this Palladian theme. The bracketing of the pediment and eaves is a later addition, and the original copper of the gable roof has been replaced by tin except on the right segment of the house. The right and left elevations are identical, each consisting of a gable end chimney balanced by 9/9 lights on the first and 9/6 lights on the second story levels. The rear elevation with projecting rear wing has a 3 bay porch on the right side of the wing balanced by a similarly gabled enclosed porch on the left. The main body of the house continues the Palladian derived windows while the projecting wing has 9/9 double hung sash windows on the first floor and 9/6 lights on the second story. A gable end chimney is placed in the center of the rear wall of the wing with two rectangular bays on the attic level directly under the eaves.
Historical Significance: Built ca. 1838, the Lewis House is one of the oldest structures in Greenville County. Architecturally it is an example of the Palladian style to what is otherwise an upcountry farmhouse. The Palladian stance of the square giant-order posts supporting the portico is echoed not only in the entrance but also in the windows at the front elevation and in some of the windows to the rear. The Palladian style found in the Lewis House is - generally speaking - more sophisticated than the vernacular styles usually found in this area of SC during the first half of the 19th c. Moved to prevent demolition, the Lewis House is a local landmark. It is in the process of being restored, and its adaptive use will be as HQ for the Greenville council of Garden Clubs.
Survey:
The Historic Resources of Greenville, SC (1981)
Archives Location:
Box 6, Series 108042, Survey of historic resources (county by county data on surface properties), circa 1971-2014
