The Jackson Street Cottages

A Success Story

For a hundred years The Cottages faithfully stood watch down Jackson Street, inhabited almost exclusively by working-class families. As the 20th century began to wane, the area around the cottages saw widespread economic stagnation. This drove many citizens from The Charleston Peninsula and into suburban locations. The last full-time residents of The Cottages vacated just prior to the end of the millennium. #Preservation

A quarter-century of vacancy and vagrancy followed – threatening the historic record of the Charlestonians that formerly dwelled there. However these buildings still remain. The structures now stand as a reminder of the carpenters, machinists, porters, mechanics, longshoremen, and painters that inhabited The Cottages, and the many structures like them, that used to be found throughout the city.

So to every soul that lived, worked, died, laughed, cried, sang, toiled, loved, gave birth, was born, tried to stay warm, slept, and woke early for work in these homes: May the preservation of these houses last as a record of your stewardship.

Restoration

Mount Vernon Partners purchased the cottages, and hired Brown-Glaws Contractors to break ground on a total rehabilitation in 2017. By utilizing tax credits for historic rehabilitation, facilitated by the National Parks Service and the South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, the team developed a rehab plan that would bring cottages back to life while treating the historic material and configuration with the utmost sensitivity.

When renovation began, they were uninhabitable, missing vital elements such as doors, windows, and large swaths of siding. The interiors were in similar disrepair, missing walls, ceilings, and functioning kitchens and bathrooms. Because of their advanced deterioration, much of the historic and non-historic finishes were removed to access and restore structural integrity.

All salvageable historic materials were saved and put back into place or repurposed elsewhere in the cottages. Most of the historic siding was removed, saved and put back into the original location while non-historic plywood that covered portions of the cottages was replaced with siding that matches the historic material. The piazzas were treated much the same way.A larger piazza was added to the rear of the house at 197 Jackson St. with new, wider decking that compliments the historic floor material. Interior trim profiles were replicated where missing, based on remaining existing sections, as well as architectural elements such as mantels.

The completed project, per the NPS tax credit guidelines, was placed into service as a commercial space. The campus is now home to several tenants in the service and hospitality industry, as well as the JSC Events music and special event venue.

*For more information on the original construction practices of these structures, you can refer to The Library of Congress Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey.

Property Timeline

2020

Carolopolis Award Winner
Freedman’s Cottages in Charleston among 20 to pick up Carolopolis Award for preservation

By Warren L. Wise wwise@postandcourier.com

Built in the late 1800s to meet Charleston’s increasing demand for housing, small houses between 300 and 500 square feet sprung up all across the upper peninsula in what may have been the first tract houses, a late 19th-century version of affordable housing. Read More.

66TH CAROLOPOLIS AWARDS
Award ceremony January 30, 2020
The historic Riviera Theater

What is the Carolopolis Award? At its core, the Carolopolis Award seeks to promote excellence in historic preservation through recognition of exceptional projects that protect the historic resources of Charleston and the Lowcountry. After more than 1,400 awards given, the Carolopolis Award has become as much a part of the fabric of the city as the buildings it honors. Today, Charleston is a much different city than when the Preservation Society awarded its first Carolopolis in 1953. The demands of preservation in Charleston have expanded and with it so too has the Carolopolis Award program.
2019

The Cottages find new purpose.
This historic grouping of four Charleston Freedman’s Cottages share one large gated parcel of land. With a combination of office space, retail, and special events uses the campus configuration of the cottages have created a unique commercial real estate opportunity.

Featuring brick fireplaces, high ceilings, gorgeous hardwood floors, service areas, facilities, expanded side and rear porches, and a full bar. The central courtyard serves as a charming oasis that feels far from the hustle and bustle of downtown life, replete with fairy lights, greenery, a cabana lounge area and the capacity for live music – it is truly the perfect venue for outdoor events or business gatherings.
2018

Fred Jamar
Knowing that this was going to be a memorable project, Mount Vernon Partners commissioned Fred Jamar to produce two paintings of the property; before & after. These amazing interpretations are on display behind the bar at the cottages so that they may be enjoyed by all future guests of the Jackson Street Cottages. A little about Fred.
2017

Cottages placed on National Registry.
Jackson Street Freedman’s Cottages

LOCATION:193-199 Jackson Street, Charleston, SC

DESIGNATION:National Register of Historic Place

The four Freedman’s Cottages are located at 193-199 Jackson Street, in Charleston, SC. These structures were built in the 1890s to meet the city’s increasing demand for housing. Before the Civil War, South Carolina had a large population of enslaved men, women, and children. In fact, African Americans made up a majority in Charleston in the mid-nineteenth century.

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2016

The Cottages grab the attention of Spoletto Festival USA.
Painting the Porgy Houses: Professor Ralph Muldrow’s Gorgeous Watercolors

Professor Ralph Muldrow – Holding his watercolor of the Jackson Street Cottages.

To help commemorate these buildings and their temporary change in appearance, Associate Professor of Art and Architectural History Ralph Muldrow has painted watercolors (which were then digitally enhanced by Sally Caithness Walker) of the assorted structures as part of a collaboration between Spoleto Festival USA, the College of Charleston Historic Preservation and Community Planning Program, and The Preservation Society of Charleston.

READ MORE

Painting the Porgy Houses: Professor Ralph Muldrow’s Gorgeous Watercolors
2015

Graduate Program in Historic Preservation.
The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation is a collaborative effort between Clemson University and the College of Charleston. The program, which is based full time in Charleston, South Carolina, offers the Master of Science in Historic Preservation and the Certificate in Historic Preservation.

In the fall of 2015 as a core component of the Investigation, Documentation and Conservation class, First Years documented and evaluated four cottages located on Charleston’s Jackson Street. The Jackson Street cottages were named to the Preservation Society’s Seven to Save list, an outreach program designed to bring awareness to vulnerable historic and cultural resources in the Charleston area.

On site, the class was divided into four documentation teams. The students recorded the buildings through measured drawings according to Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) standards. The field drawings were then transferred into AutoCAD, resulting in full digital renditions of the cottages. The students also documented the conditions of the cottages and created a brief assessment to further substantiate the significance of rehabilitation.

These small dwellings were slated for rehabilitation as commercial space. It was important to document the four houses to provide a record of the architectural features and conditions before the rehab.

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2012

Preservationist places the cottages on the "Seven to Save" list.
In 2012, the Preservation Society of Charleston listed the cottages on their Seven to Save which is an outreach program designed to preserve vulnerable historic and cultural resources in the Charleston area through education and public awareness.

“An important vernacular building type in Charleston, the “single cottage” form is being lost throughout the city by demolition and inappropriate alterations that erode character-defining features.” – PSofC.
2006
Neglect claims two-thirds of 197 Jackson Street.
In 2006, the piazza and rear two-thirds of the cottage, including the chimneys, were removed by the City of Charleston in order to help stabilize the remainder of the building that stands today. However, demolition by neglect of these structures continued.
1993
The Cottages are abandoned.
Research shows that the properties were maintained for a short period after ownership changed hands. By the mid 1990’s the cottages were vacant and all maintenance halted. Neglect caused these buildings to deteriorate rapidly.
1979
I-26 cuts through Charleston.
Sumter Street is cut in two by the construction of Interstate 26.

Many residents were displaced when homes on the peninsula were demolished to make way for Interstate 26.

This photo shows I-26 construction between Meeting & King Street (below) in 1968.
1937
City grants new addresses.
The City of Charleston acquired and then sold the properties to Samuel Rosen, who immediately sold the properties to his son Nathan Rosen in the same year. At this time, the street numbers were changed and the current numbering of 193 through 199 was put into place.
1890
Construction on the cottages begins.
The Tobins constructed the four cottages on two lots circa 1890.
1879
Sumter St. parcels sold.
On the 1882 Sanborn map, the eastern end of Sumter Street, a street that would later be split in half by the consruction of I-26 and renamed Jackson Street, shows a vacant lot that is of a residential urban character in the Eastside neighborhood that predates the cottages. The two lots on Jackson Street were undeveloped until the lots were sold by the owner Patrick Brady to Irish immigrants Catherine Tobin and her son George W. Tobin in 1879. They consolidated the two lots into one parcel in 1884.