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1803
Gabriel Manigault designed the house for his brother in 1803
The Joseph Manigault House was built in 1803 to a design by Gabriel Manigault, for his brother Joseph. Gabriel had studied architecture in London before the American Revolutionary War. It is a three-story brick house at the corner of Meeting and John Streets.
The plan
A semicircular stairwell and a bowed porch shape the house
A semicircular stairwell projects from one sidewall and a bowed porch from the other, giving the house the rough shape of a parallelogram. It was one of the first houses in Charleston not obviously based on the standard single house and double house models.
A gas station
A gas station plan in 1920 led to the Preservation Society of Charleston
In 1920 the house was threatened with demolition to make way for a gas station. In response, a group of Charlestonians organized a preservation group, which would become the Preservation Society of Charleston.
The U.S.O.
The U.S.O. restored the house in World War II, and it opened in 1948
In 1933 the house was auctioned for non-payment of taxes. A buyer presented it to the Charleston Museum. During World War II the U.S.O. occupied and restored it, serving coffee and donuts on the first floor. It opened to the public in 1948.
Day 2, midday
It comes after Cistern Yard. Then St. Philip’s Church.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Joseph Manigault House, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.