Rose Hill, Sheffield Phelps
Historic Property
Alternate Name:
Phelps House
Street Address:
Bounded by Barnwell & Edgefield AVEs & Florence & Greenville STs, Aiken, SC (Aiken County)
Site Number:
03_0012
Control Number:
U/03/0012
Date Surveyed:
October 29 2009
Category:
Building
Construction Date:
circa 1900
Alteration Date:
2005 – circa 2009
Historic Use:
Residential/Domestic
Current Use:
Commerce/Trade
Historic Core Shape:
Rectangular
Number of Stories:
2
Construction Method:
frame
Exterior Walls Materials:
Wood Shingles
Foundation Materials:
Brick
National Register Determination:
listed;
Signficant Architectural Features:
Wooden shingles broken by windows, gables and doorways trimmed in white; entrance to the house is through a porte-cochere supported by Doric columns; formal gardens surround the house w/outbuildings (stables, garage, kennels, three greenhouses, tool houses, and a children’s playhouse) to the rear. Prev. SHPO No. 578
Alterations:
Kitchen updated for facilities rental &stables converted to restaurant
Historical Information:
(Rose Hill) The Phelps House is a noteworthy example of the Shingle Style, frequently used in late nineteenth and early twentieth century resort homes for the wealthy, but relatively rare in South Carolina. The Phelps estate, which served as the location for the first meetings of the Garden Club of South Carolina, contains a formal landscaped garden. The elegant home and landscaped grounds are characteristic of many such estates owned by the wealthy in pre-income tax America. The Phelps House was built in the early 1900s on the foundations of an antebellum house destroyed during the Civil War. Designed as a winter home, the two-story house has an exterior surface of wooden shingles broken by windows, gables and doorways trimmed in white. The house contains over twenty rooms. Entrance to the house is through a porte-cochere supported by Doric columns. Original owner of the house, Mrs. Sheffield Phelps, landscaped the grounds and formal gardens containing camellias, azaleas, hollies, and English boxwood. The Phelps family spent from November to May in Aiken and usually spent summers in Bar Harbor, Maine or Europe. Outbuildings include original stables, garage, kennels, three greenhouses, tool houses, and a children’s playhouse. Listed in the National Register June 10, 1974.
Source of Historical Information:
“Phelps House” [Online]; available from http://www.nationalregister.sc.gov/aiken/S10817702004/index.htm; Internet. Accessed April 26, 2010.
Survey:
City of Aiken Historic Resources Survey, Aiken County, South Carolina. May 2010
Quadrangle Name:
Aiken