This Thursday, the Preservation Society of Charleston will celebrate the 66th annual Carolopolis Awards – an event recognizing exceptional rehabilitation projects that preserve + protect historical structures in Charleston.
The complete list of this year’s winners won’t be announced until the ceremony, but we managed to get the lowdown ahead of time on one particularly interesting honoree: The Jackson Street Cottages.
The history
Located across 193, 195, 197 + 199 Jackson Street (in Charleston’s Eastside neighborhood), the four single-story homes were constructed around the turn of the 20th century to house primarily black, working families.
At one point, over 1,000 of these types of homes (commonly referred to as Freedman’s Cottages) existed in downtown Charleston, many spanning entire blocks – but for years, their architectural + historical significance were ignored. As a result, many of them were demolished throughout the late 1900s, and the Jackson Street Cottages are the most intact group that remain.
The Jackson Street Cottages were also at risk of being demolished, as a result of years of neglect. Thanks to the efforts of the Preservation Society, the homes were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2017, ensuring their protection.
Since then, they have been purchased by the real estate investment firm Mount Vernon Partners – who have restored the homes + repurposed them to function as a private event space.
The renovation
By the time the rehabilitation effort began, the buildings had deteriorated so much that they’d lost their structural integrity. In order to restore it, most of the homes’ finishes had to be removed – but the historic materials were all saved and either put back into place later on or repurposed elsewhere.
Also due to their state of deterioration: it was difficult to figure out exactly how the cottages looked in their original form. Instead, developers studied similar architectural structures from that time period to determine the stylistic elements + details that most likely reflect how the cottages once looked. Aside from a few changes – like the addition of a larger piazza and deck on one of the cottages, as well as a few new walls for restrooms and other ADA-compliant features – the restored homes most likely look just like their original forms.