Simmons-Harth House
National Register Listing
Street Address:
102 Gantt St., Lexington, SC (Lexington County)
Alternate Name:
Simmons-Harth-Gantt House
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817732038
Description and Narrative:
The Simmons-Harth House, constructed ca. 1830, is a two-story, rectangular, later Federal style frame house with a gable roof, exterior end chimneys, and one-story shed rooms on the rear. The house is sheathed in weatherboard siding, and the roof is covered in standing seam metal. A double-tiered, pedimented portico is attached to the façade. The portico features slender wooden columns and pilasters and a fanlight in the gable end. The area of the façade protected by the portico is sheathed in flushboard and has a chair rail. The portico also shelters a fan-lighted central entrance on each story. Alterations include replacing the first-story columns with square wooden posts ca. 1900 and enclosure of the original central, open passageway between the shed rooms on the rear. The house is one of the town’s oldest residences and one of the few remaining buildings illustrating the early history of the town. The house was probably constructed ca. 1830 by Dr. Thomas Hayne Simmons and his wife Mary Reid Jones. In 1866, Mary J. Simmons was appointed postmistress for Lexington village. In 1868 their daughter Mary Simmons Harth was appointed postmistress and remained in that office until 1895. She operated the post office from a small wooden building on the property, which was moved in 1974 to the Lexington County Museum property. Listed in the National Register November 22, 1983.
Period of Significance:
circa 1830
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Architecture
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
November 22 1983
