Edmondston-Alston House
| Edmondston–Alston House | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Type | House |
| Architectural style | Regency style, Greek Revival |
| Coordinates | 32°54′N 80°00′W / 32.9°N 80.0°W |
| Construction started | 1820 |
| Completed | 1828 |
| Height | |
| Top floor | 1838 |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Wood |
| Floor count | 3 |
The Edmondston–Alston House is a historic house located at 21 East Battery in Charleston, South Carolina. The house is also known as the Charles Edmonston House, the Alston House, and the Middleton-Smith House.
The house is built on the foundation ruins of Fort Mechanic that was at this location in the later part of the eighteenth century. Shipping merchant Charles Edmondston, a Scottish immigrant from the Shetland Islands, had purchased the low sandy lot in 1817. The unstable soggy land was unfit for residential construction until a sea wall was built. Charleston city officials built one in 1820 and Edmondston then started the construction of the house. The antebellum modified Charleston single house (side-hall) was constructed between 1820 and 1828. Edmondston had built the house originally in the English Regency style architecture.
The front main entrance is from Charleston's historic area known as High Battery. The east facing three-story house has a panoramic view of the Charleston harbor as well as a view of the High Battery, the city's well known waterfront promenade. It is made of brick and stucco faced. The property is mostly surrounded by a wrought-iron railing fence which is built on top of a three-foot brick wall. The house has an open floor plan of basically two large rooms on each floor with smaller adjacent areas. The house has several fireplaces and the brick chimneys have terra cotta chimney pots. The low pitched slate roof is surrounded by a parapet, which hides most of it. The second story has fourteen foot ceilings. There are large window and door openings for good air flow circulation to act as a type of air-conditioner. There are outbuildings to the house that originally contained the kitchen and servants' quarters. The back part of the property originally was the horse stables and facilities for carriages.
The Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) conducted in 1958 in Charleston describes the house in detail. The house has wide piazzas (porches) on the south side. The north entrance leads into a large hall. One passes through an arch into a large staircase hall. The hall goes from north to south on the lower porch leading to an outside door. The staircase at the entrance leads to the two drawing rooms on the second floor. The small rooms behind them served as withdrawing spaces, one for men and the other for women. A room of books for library use and reading are at this level. The interior walls and ceilings are finished in ornamental plaster. A balcony was destroyed in the 1886 Charleston earthquake and replaced with the present cast-iron balcony.
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