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Architecture and Preservation
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Newer stories | Older stories Robert Behre
Latest South Carolina HeadlinesLatest HeadlinesCharleston as a frontier townMonday, Aug. 18, 2008More than three centuries ago, Charles Towne had a few hundred structures from the Cooper River back toward what now is Coming Street. Today, despite Charleston's reputation as one of America's best-preserved cities, they're all gone. The city's oldest surviving buildings, such as the Pink House at 17 Chalmers St., date from the early 18th century. There's no proof anything still stands from the 17th century, the period that's the focus of a new book by local historians Susan Bates and Cheves Leland. Read story. Expansion provides 'a taste of home'Monday, Aug. 11, 2008In 1970, Charlestonian Margot Freudenberg established the nation's first Hope Lodge — a temporary residence for out-of-town cancer patients receiving treatment — on the second floor of an old home at Ashley Avenue and Calhoun Street. Read story. Leaning light spared from pounding surfMonday, Aug. 4, 2008FOLLY BEACH — In 2001, the Morris Island Lighthouse was leaning about 0.7 degrees to the east-northeast. The most recent measurements show that lean has grown to 1.3 degrees. In other words, its lean has almost doubled just in the past seven years, probably mostly because of waves pounding against its aged foundation. Read story. Glitch with Moultrie's triglyphsMonday, July 28, 2008To many people, the stone base of the Maj. Gen. William Moultrie statue at White Point Garden looks fine, a handsome support for the bronze likeness of the Revolutionary War hero. But to the city's architecturally literate, it has a glyph glitch that should not stand, lest the city's reputation as a keeper of the classical flame get snuffed out. Read story. City's 'Temple of Justice' reopens as meeting spaceMonday, July 21, 2008One of Charleston's most dramatic events in the run-up to the Civil War unfolded inside U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Gordon Magrath's courtroom at 23 Chalmers St. Upon learning that Abraham Lincoln had won the presidency, Magrath, perhaps the city's most prominent federal official, stood up and declared that he would step down, saying, "So far as I am concerned, the Temple of Justice, raised under the Constitution of the United States, is now closed." Read story. Seashore Farmers' Lodge an endangered ruinMonday, July 14, 2008JAMES ISLAND — There's a certain evocative beauty to the ruin that is the Seashore Farmers' Lodge No. 767. Read story. Project reinvents downtown blockMonday, July 7, 2008Anyone who remembers the old Simonton School, or the grassy field that existed for years after the school was torn down, can return to the Radcliffeborough neighborhood today and get a profound sense for how much Charleston is changing. This city block bounded by Morris, Smith, Marion and Jasper streets has been reinvented yet again, this time as Morris Square, a mix of 32 homes, town homes and condos, two commercial spaces, as well as a large park and an intimate plaza. Read story. Homes don't call attention to themselvesMonday, June 30, 2008The 11 houses on Peecksens Court not only help the Elliottborough neighborhood by adding handsome new houses to what had been a vacant, blighted street, they also strengthen the city by giving more people a chance to stay downtown while owning a home of their own. Charleston's greatest architectural achievement during the past generation might be its scattered-site public housing, a series of public housing units built in the 1980s that, for the first time, didn't resemble military barracks but instead blended in with nearby historic homes. Read story. Fuel offers high-octane nostalgia with lunchMonday, June 23, 2008Anyone nostalgic for the days when gas cost 36.9 cents a gallon can step inside one of Charleston's newest restaurants for a flashback. That's the price on the sign hanging from the ceiling inside Fuel, a restaurant occupying a 1950s-era building first built as an Esso service station. Read story. Building on Upper King a nod to city, yet novelMonday, June 16, 2008As the new owners of 487 King St. plotted what to do with their small, long-neglected property between Ann and Mary streets, they got some bad news. The building's late 19th-century brick storefront, which had a certain charm even if its window openings revealed a tree growing up in the middle of the lot, was in pretty bad shape. Read story. Fenwick Hall a cautionary taleMonday, June 9, 2008JOHNS ISLAND — When John Pernell bought Fenwick Hall eight years ago and began a costly renovation, he thought he'd be protected from new development that inevitably would go up next door. These days, he has big doubts. Read story. Dock Street face-lift on trackMonday, June 2, 2008Whenever Spoleto rolls around, it's only natural to stroll around inside the Dock Street Theatre. But few festival-goers will get that experience this year. Unless they're wearing a hard hat. Read story. Tiny art, big achievementMonday, May 26, 2008Memminger Auditorium isn't Charleston's only new architectural object of interest this Spoleto season. About four blocks north, inside the rotunda of the College of Charleston's Addlestone Library, is a new mini-museum structure that's as big an accomplishment as the art displayed there is... Read story. Tiny art, big achievementMonday, May 26, 2008Memminger Auditorium isn't Charleston's only new architectural object of interest this Spoleto season. About four blocks north, inside the rotunda of the College of Charleston's Addlestone Library, is a new mini-museum structure that's as big an accomplishment as the art displayed there is small. Read story. Big achievement for tiny artSunday, May 25, 2008Newer stories | Older stories |
Robert Behre graduated from Dartmouth College in 1985 with a degree in English and spent five years writing for the Greenville (S.C.) Piedmont before moving to Charleston in 1990. He has covered city and county government for The Post and Courier and also has served as an assistant city editor. His weekly column on architecture and preservation began in 1996. The column looks at the people and decisions involved in saving old buildings, and designing new ones that people will want to save, all with an eye toward what gives the Lowcountry its unique sense of place.
