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Archive Record


Object Type Property File
Title 4 Gadsden Street (John H. Steinmeyer House)
Scope & Content Constructed ca. 1852. John H. Steinmeyer, a member of a Charleston family with extensive real estate holdings, owned a steam sawmill nearby and probably built this house on land leased by Nathan Nathans, a King Street dry goods merchant. The Steinmeyers were living here by 1852 on land that had only recently been Ashley River marshes. As the family lumber business expanded in the 1850s, J.H. Steinmeyer continued to live at this site. The 3-story Greek Revival dwelling is of the side-hall, double-parlor plan. A Temple of the Winds portico shelters the front entry on the north end of the Gadsden Street elevation. The flat roofed is capped by a stucco parapet with dentiled cornice, while triple-tiered piazzas on the south overlook Beaufain Street. Heavily damaged in the hurricane of 1885 and the earthquake of 1886, the property was sold by the Nathans to George W. Egan, builder of the Charleston jetties. (Poston, Buildings of Charleston.)

House was demolished in January 2017 due to significant structural issues.

File contains newspaper articles about the house and its demolition including DYKYC (1970, 1980); house history from Information for Guides of Historic Charleston; excerpt from Old Codgers' Charleston Address Book (20th century residents); captioned photograph of the house after the 1885 cyclone from a publication*; advertisement for Steinmeyer's sawmill from a publication.*

**Possibly "Views of Prominent Places in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.A., Showing the Damage after the Cyclone of August 25, 1885," by Alexander Mack Cochram.
Subjects Historic buildings--South Carolina--Charleston
Lost architecture--South Carolina--Charleston
Search Terms Gadsden Street
Harleston Village
Demolished buildings, lost buildings
Physical Description 1 File Folder
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Object ID # GADSDEN.004.1