Manigault, Joseph, House

National Register Listing

Street Address:

350 Meeting St., Charleston, SC (Charleston County)

Alternate Name:

Joseph Manigault House

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817710069

Description and Narrative:

One of the finest examples of the Adam style in America, the Joseph Manigault house reflects the architect’s taste for the classic style. Particularly of note is the small and refined scale of the detail in mantels, door and window mouldings, and cornices at wall and ceiling angles. Robert Adam was the first architect using this classic vocabulary to make a distinction between the scale of temples and the smaller scale appropriate to domestic architecture. The house was designed by Gabriel Manigault for his brother Joseph, and built in 1790. The designer Manigault had studied in Geneva and London before the Revolution. He came back to Charleston before the war and designed several buildings in the city after the war. The house is patterned as a parallelogram, its right angled severity broken effectively by a stairwell bow on the north wall, a bowed piazza to the west, and offset wide porches on the south where the formal garden affords a pleasant view toward the domed gate house. The wooden columns of the portico are mounted on stone plinths to prevent rot and between the subflooring and the heart-pine flooring is a layer of lime to discourage insects. Heavy pine rafters support the slate roof. Listed in the National Register November 7, 1973; Designated a National Historic Landmark November 7, 1973.

Period of Significance:

1790;18th century

Level of Significance:

National

Area of Significance:

Architecture

National Register Determination:

National Historic Landmark

Date of Certification:

November 7 1973

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