Dean Hall
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Oakley, SC (Berkeley County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817708999
Description and Narrative:
Architecturally and historically significant as well as a fine example of landscape architecture, Dean Hall Plantation was settled prior to 1725 by Alexander Nisbett of Dean, Scotland. The estate was sold in 1821 to William Augustus Carson who built the house from brick made at Medway Plantation across the river. Carson developed the rice plantation to the extent that it was said to have resembled “a well ordered village” rather than a single plantation. In 1909, Dean Hall came under the ownership of Benjamin Rufus Kittredge. It was Kittredge who modernized the old house and planted the renowned Cyprus Gardens, one of Charleston’s three nationally acclaimed gardens, open to the public since 1930. Architecturally, the house is distinctive in that its unusual encircling piazza enabled the owner to keep an eye on the work in the rice fields, his upland plantings, or the slave quarters. The house is a spacious, one-and-one-half story house built over a raised basement which has an arcaded exterior wall. The service rooms, kitchens, and storerooms were located in the basement, behind the arcaded area. The roof line is a medium cross gable flanked front and rear with dormers. Divided fanlights are set in the front and rear gables. Listed in the National Register April 7, 1971. Dean Hall has since been moved. Removed from the National Register October 7, 1971.
Period of Significance:
circa 1821;19th century
Level of Significance:
State
Area of Significance:
Architecture;Agriculture;Landscape Architecture
National Register Determination:
removed from National Register
Date of Certification:
April 7 1971
Date of Removal from the Register:
October 7 1971
