Charleston, SC: School of the Building Arts

Today I visited Charleston, South Carolina and snooped around the School of the Building Arts, all spooked out for Halloween. Not much to be done to transform this school, the Old City Jail, into a bona fide Haunted House. I did not get to experience the Haunted House they had on, but admired from behind the four-foot thick brick walls, barred windows, and iron gates. An ancient paddy wagon in the yard was surrounded by the students' building projects in timber framing, masonry, stone-laying, even a kiln.

This issue of PRESERVATION magazine sparked my interest a few months ago. More about the American College of Building Arts in Charleston, SC.

CITY HOUSES: Charleston South Carolina

The Charleston side porch house prevails throughout the old city, in major and modest manifestations.
Merchants' mansions on the Battery,
the most common two-story versions,
and the more obscure, now (not as well-preserved) single-story side porch houses known as Freedman's Cottages. This streetscape features the first-mentioned types. I hope to draw the Freedman's Cottages in another iteration.
As for urban context, the palmettoes and the sea at the edge of the peninsula which the Battery houses overlook are essential, and the antique wallpaper pattern conveys the decorum of Charlestonian senses.
I will add watercolor to the porch spaces, highlighted on the print in a very light yellow, as the final layer.

Charleston TEST Patterns

Swatches of a new Vernacular House Types + Cities Poster: I'm trying to decide which tones best characterize CHARLESTON...
Yes, somewhere between two and three. The child of Charleston Green and Antique English Blue.

Land .and. Water

Maps Progress

Meanwhile... I have been working on the turn-of-the-century city maps. I have many, many hours of tidying the drawings and working the layers of color ahead.

Here are the four city maps in their first phase:
Now, any guesses as to which cities I am drawing? Come, on...

Drayton Hall

I "love" Drayton Hall because it is NOT RESTORED. It is PRESERVED - more or less how it was found when the National Trust for Historic Preservation acquired the property in 1974. The building is stabilized so further deterioration is prevented or limited.

Layers of paint, as many as seven generations, have weathered the air since the mid- to late 19th century. You can see the layers to bare wood. 300-some thousand hand-formed bricks, hand-carved wood mouldings and plaster ceilings speak of skilled 18-century artisans, some of whom were enslaved.

The house is open. It breathes the same air in and outside. It's like a ruin in this way. Neither plumbing nor air conditioning were ever introduced into the house. The house was looted during its less-lived-in periods and is missing some fireplace mantels. It withstood an earthquake and hurricanes. Mostly evacuated by its owners during the wars, Drayton Hall was trampled by hundreds of British troops during the Revolutionary War and miraculously survived the Civil War intact.

To walk through its weathered 270-year old rooms seems kind of miraculous.

"To walk out of Drayton Hall above Charleston, S.C., is not to leave it behind. It is the stuff of dreams, and a visitor returns to this plantation house again and again in the hours when imagination vanquishes daily reality." Betsy Wade, New York Times, 1984

Find photos of ongoing historic preservation at Drayton Hall here.

Drayton Hall

Love is...
a tour through Drayton Hall, a mid-1700s (plantation) house on the Ashley River in Charleston, SC. I enjoyed my fourth tour last weekend.
A photocompilation of my favorite moments:

Native Trees of the Lowcountry

Christy had an idea for a Christmas card a while ago...

And this is what I made of it.

(click to see larger)

This is the LAST Christmas card for 2008.

The other ideas are on the shelf until 2009.

Charleston - Savannah

WORK - IN - PROGRESS

Charleston and Savannah

Charleston, South Carolina and Savannah, Georgia are sometimes called "Sister Cities." They are quite different in plan and have their own unique variations on Lowcountry architecture. Charleston was settled in the late 1600s and Savannah in the early-mid 1700s. They share a commitment to historic preservation, art, manners, excellent cuisine and are key destinations for domestic and international tours. Savannah and Charleston are sought out for the wealth of authentic high-style architecture tempered with vernacular materials and methods and the historic events that occurred in both cities. (At least that's what I think...)

They are part of a small group of American cities whose relatively long histories, slower growth during American boom-times when other cities were clearing the deck for modern buildings, and active historic preservation communities make them a treasure trove of historic architecture, urban design, and industrial design (found in old buildings and antique shops.)

Charleston Renaissance

On a recent visit to Charleston, South Carolina, I was really excited to find a collection of lovely drawings of Charleston street scenes, rooftop views, garden gates, and buildings on small postcards at the Gibbes Museum of Art gallery shop. I learned from helpful docents the drawings were of Elizabeth O'Neill Verner who was "part of a group of artists who were dedicated to reviving an interest in art in the Charleston area in the 1920s and 1930s." She was also a preservationist and dedicated advocate for her City. The postcards were salvaged from her studio on the corner of Tradd Street and Church Street, likely printed in the 1940s or 1950s.

"Verner genuinely loved the city and its people and through her drawings, etchings and dry points she tried to preserve as much of the charm, flavor and uniqueness of her home..."

What a worthy mission.