The Lost Architecture: May 2020 Edition

Gabriel Manigault House (290 Meeting Street). The original house on this lot, the Gabriel Manigault House, was constructed ca. 1802. It was a 2½-story frame house on brick basement, located at the southeast corner of Meeting and George streets. Demolished in the 1930s and replaced with a gas station, the demolition of this building was one of the inspirations for city council's enactment of America's first historic zoning ordinance in 1931 and to create the nation's first historic district and Architectural Review. The brick and other elements (columns, balusters, and window surrounds) saved from the demolition were used in HCF's Frances R. Edmunds Center for Historic Preservation at 108 Meeting Street, now the location of Shop Historic Charleston. (Poston, Jonathan: The Buildings of Charleston.) The 1930 photograph by St. Julien Melchers is courtesy of The Charleston Museum Archives.