Huguenot Church

National Register Listing

Street Address:

136 Church St., Charleston, SC (Charleston County)

---

NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817710068

Description and Narrative:

Completed in 1845, the Huguenot Church was the first Gothic Revival building built in Charleston. It is an excellent example of Edward Brickell White’s versatility for he had recently completed both Greek Doric and Roman Doric buildings within the city. Though White was probably at his best in the design of buildings in the classic manner, the Huguenot Church appears to have been his first essay in Gothic. The building is stucco on brick with a single tier of Gothic windows and is three by six bays in proportion. It shows a quantity of pinnacle-topped buttresses, a battlement parapet, and dripstones. Cast-iron crockets are located on the pinnacles over the front windows and front gable. The use of pinnacled buttresses on the front elevation as well as the flanks might lead one to expect an interior with nave and aisles; however, the interior is a single cell with plaster ribbed grained vaulting. Its width in relation to its height gives it an unexpected sense of spaciousness for a building of its size. This is the third edifice on this site. Listed in the National Register November 7, 1973; Designated a National Historic Landmark November 7, 1973.

Period of Significance:

1844 – 1845;19th century

Level of Significance:

National

Area of Significance:

Architecture

National Register Determination:

National Historic Landmark

Date of Certification:

November 7 1973

---