Roper, Robert William, House

National Register Listing

Street Address:

9 E. Battery St., Charleston, SC (Charleston County)

Alternate Name:

Robert William Roper House

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817710071

Description and Narrative:

The Roper House was the first to be constructed on the east Battery (ca. 1838) and its outsized colonnade was built not only to support the portico, but to be admired from across the harbor. The house is typical of its period in that it is built on a grandiose scale, but is more so than almost any other private dwelling in the city. The house is two stories over a basement, built of brick in Flemish bond, and has a flat, balustraded roof with an Ionic entablature. The portico is giant-order Ionic pentastyle above a ground-floor arcade of stuccoed brick. The five-columned portico is an unusual feature in Greek Revival buildings in the state. Unlike most Charleston houses, the Roper House portico does not have a second-story tier to break the height of the columns. Another unusual feature of the house is that the roof of the house proper and that of the portico are incorporated into a single unit; this treatment was not generally found during this period in the state. Although records have been destroyed, the detail of the house would point to E.B. White as its architect. Listed in the National Register November 7, 1973; Designated a National Historic Landmark November 7, 1973.

Period of Significance:

1838;19th 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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