Mills House (1853/1968), view01, 115 Meeting St, Charleston, SC, USA
Charleston est. 1670, pop. 127,999 (2013)
• reconstruction of original Mills House (1853), a 5-story, 180-room hotel • designed by expatriot New England architect John E. Earle for Massachusetts-born grain merchant & real estate developer Otis Mills (1794-1869) • billed as "The Finest Hotel South of New York City"
• first large scale installation of running water & steam heat in Charleston • gas lighting in all rooms • Italianate style façade featured cast iron balconies, marble mantels & chandeliers from Philadelphia • "fireproof" terra cotta window cornices produced by Tolman, Hathaway & Stone, Worcester, MA, made an impression • similar cornices soon found on houses throughout area; Charleston now said to have more 1850s buildings ornamented w/terra cotta than any other US city
• eight "bathing rooms" for ladies per floor included H & C running water, bath & shower; similar facilities on 1st floor for men • dining saloon for up to 300 guests and, as customary in mid-19th c. America, a gentlemen's dining room & a "ladies ordinary" on the second-floor "to protect 'respectable' women from being accosted or harassed by men or, even worse, taken for easily available women by male travelers, loungers, and dubious characters." -read on at Oxford University Press Blog
• housed delegates to 1860 Democratic Convention, which nominated Sen. Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) to face Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860 presidential election
• Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) was hotel guest, 1861, watched the Great Fire from the balcony until approaching flames forced him to leave • architect Earle's brother assisted hotel staff in saving building [photo] by draping wet blankets from the windows • in addition to whites, hotel personnel included blacks, both slave & free, e.g., barber William Inglis, an "F.P.C." (Free Person of Color)
• upon his Sept, 1862 arrival from New Orleans, served as headquarters for Confederate commander, Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard (1818-1893) • Otis Mills subsequently invited the general to use his private residence • during the Civil War, Yankee transplant Mills sold most of his real estate for investment in Confederate bonds
• hotel later renamed the St. John's, hosted President Theodore Roosevelt during 1901-1902 South Carolina Inter-State & West Indian Exposition • building demolished, 1968 • present Mills House designed by New York office of New Orleans architectural firm Curtis & Davis, reconstructed on site of original with 2 additional stories • old ironwork retained & terra cotta ornamentation reproduced in fiberglass
• Mills House history • homepage • Charleston Historic District, National Register # 66000964, 1966 • declared National Historic Landmark District, 1960
Mills House (1853/1968), view01, 115 Meeting St, Charleston, SC, USA
Charleston est. 1670, pop. 127,999 (2013)
• reconstruction of original Mills House (1853), a 5-story, 180-room hotel • designed by expatriot New England architect John E. Earle for Massachusetts-born grain merchant & real estate developer Otis Mills (1794-1869) • billed as "The Finest Hotel South of New York City"
• first large scale installation of running water & steam heat in Charleston • gas lighting in all rooms • Italianate style façade featured cast iron balconies, marble mantels & chandeliers from Philadelphia • "fireproof" terra cotta window cornices produced by Tolman, Hathaway & Stone, Worcester, MA, made an impression • similar cornices soon found on houses throughout area; Charleston now said to have more 1850s buildings ornamented w/terra cotta than any other US city
• eight "bathing rooms" for ladies per floor included H & C running water, bath & shower; similar facilities on 1st floor for men • dining saloon for up to 300 guests and, as customary in mid-19th c. America, a gentlemen's dining room & a "ladies ordinary" on the second-floor "to protect 'respectable' women from being accosted or harassed by men or, even worse, taken for easily available women by male travelers, loungers, and dubious characters." -read on at Oxford University Press Blog
• housed delegates to 1860 Democratic Convention, which nominated Sen. Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) to face Republican Abraham Lincoln in 1860 presidential election
• Gen. Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) was hotel guest, 1861, watched the Great Fire from the balcony until approaching flames forced him to leave • architect Earle's brother assisted hotel staff in saving building [photo] by draping wet blankets from the windows • in addition to whites, hotel personnel included blacks, both slave & free, e.g., barber William Inglis, an "F.P.C." (Free Person of Color)
• upon his Sept, 1862 arrival from New Orleans, served as headquarters for Confederate commander, Gen. Pierre G.T. Beauregard (1818-1893) • Otis Mills subsequently invited the general to use his private residence • during the Civil War, Yankee transplant Mills sold most of his real estate for investment in Confederate bonds
• hotel later renamed the St. John's, hosted President Theodore Roosevelt during 1901-1902 South Carolina Inter-State & West Indian Exposition • building demolished, 1968 • present Mills House designed by New York office of New Orleans architectural firm Curtis & Davis, reconstructed on site of original with 2 additional stories • old ironwork retained & terra cotta ornamentation reproduced in fiberglass
• Mills House history • homepage • Charleston Historic District, National Register # 66000964, 1966 • declared National Historic Landmark District, 1960