Rye Patch
Historic Property
Alternate Name:
Blank
Street Address:
northwest corner of whiskey Road and Berrie Road, Aiken, SC
Site Number:
S108042001100065
Site Number:
2-10-12 (83)
Date Surveyed:
1973
Category:
Building
Historic Use:
Residential/Domestic
Current Use:
Vacant/Not In Use
Signficant Architectural Features:
Two-story weatherboarded house, irregular in plan. Hip roof with plain boxed cornice. Four interior chimneys, one exterior chimney. Fenestration is varied - the windows are double-hung sash, many with a diamond-paned sash over a single- or two-light sash, some 6/6; many of the windows have paneled shutters. Front (east elevation): faces Whiskey Road; asymmetrical; located in the projecting south end of the front elevation, the main front entrance is a single door sheltered by a small pedimented porch; the broken-bed pediment of this porch contains a pineapple and is supported by two Tuscan columns; to the south of the entrance is a three-sided, one-story projection that contains large 4/6 windows; above this, on the second floor is a smaller projecting 3-sided bay and a double window; the north side of the projecting S. end of the front features an oriel window on the second floor; north end of front features a 2-story polygonal projection and one-story wing. North elevation: wings. South elevation: two 2-story polygonal projections; terrace. Rear (W. elev.): 2-tier porch with chamfered posts and balustrade (with plain balusters) at the north end; 2 2-story polygonal projections at the south end. OUTBUILDINGS: Stables and paddocks, guest house, laundry house, garage with chauffeur's quarter above, tennis court.
Alterations:
wood frame
Historical Information:
Rye Patch was once the home of william Travers, for whom the Travers Drag Line was named. He was the son of the well-known sportsman Billy Travers, honored on the turf by the Travers Stake at Saratoga. After the Travers, the heirs of Charles G. Taylor of Portland, Conn., occupied the house. Edmund Pendleton Rogers and his wife, the former Dorothy Knox Goodyear, bought the house in the mid 1930's. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers wintered in Aiken for many years, entertaining such guests as the Prince of Wales before his marriage to Mrs. Wallis Simpson. According to tradition, open archways in the high brick wall that surrounds the estate were sealed for privacy when Edward VIII visited the Aiken estate. (The Rogers family also played host to Mrs. Simpson when Roger's brother, Herman Rogers, opened his home in Cannes, France, to Mrs. Simpson when she left England prior to her marriage to Edward. The wedding was held at the Rogers' estate in Cannes). In the 1950's, the Duke of Windsor was again entertained by the Rogers in Aiken. Mrs. Rogers and her brother Seymour H. Knox were founding members of the Green Boundary Club, where she served as an officer until her death shortly after Christmas of 1981 at age 84. She was an organizer and benefactor of the Aiken USO as well. Mrs. Rogers, a native of Buffalo, was first married to Frank H. Goodyear, who died in an auto-train accident as a young man. Left with 4 children, she later married Rogers, a New York banker whose home at Hyde Park was adjacent to the Roosevelt family church.
Source of Historical Information:
Caskey, Sarah. "Archways Sealed for Duke's Visit." Aiken Standard (Aiken, S.C.), 9 October 1981, p. 5A. Caskey, Sarah. "Aiken May Get Land Next to Hopeland Gardens." Aiken Standard (Aiken, S. C.), 6 October 1981, p. 1A.
Survey:
Aiken - City - Winter Colony Historic Districts Survey, 1982
Archives Location:
Box 11, Series 108042, Survey of historic resources (county by county data on surface properties), circa 1971-2014
