51 East Bay
Caspar Christian Schutt House
This large, three and one-half story masonry single house was constructed circa 1800-1802 by Caspar Christian Schutt, a Charleston merchant of German descent. As was the custom of the day, he operated his business activities on the first floor and used the upper floors as his residence.
The exterior features a hipped roof and dormers, a dentil brick cornice, with stucco over brick, except for the north facade which is brick in the Flemish bond pattern. The deep lot also holds several of the original structures, including a kitchen house, carriage house, servants’ quarters and stables.
The house is noted for its Adam style interior with elaborate decorative plaster molding, and is distinguished by an elegant curved elliptical stair that ascends to the third floor.
In 1821 the property was purchased by John Fraser, a partner in the cotton export firm of Fraser, Trenholm and Company. During the Civil War the company ran a fleet of blockade runners that brought in supplies to aid the Confederate war effort.
Charles T. Lowndes, a wealthy merchant, purchased the property in 1836 and it remained in the Lowndes family until 1930. His son, Rawlins Lowndes, a rice planter and Confederate captain, inherited the house in 1886. His wife, Sarah Buchanan Preston, affectionately known as “Buck,” was the niece of famed Wade Hampton, a Confederate general and later South Carolina Governor. She was also a prominent subject of Mary Boykin Chestnut’s popular Confederate memoir, A Diary from Dixie.
During the Lowndes family ownership, the property was enhanced and enlarged from its original design. The adjacent lot was purchased and the building on it demolished in order to create a formal garden. In addition, the existing three tiered piazzas were constructed, distinguished by graduating orders of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns and turned balusters.
placed by
THE PRESERVATION SOCIETY OF CHARLESTON
2007 |
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