Charleston cottage

A Charleston cottage is a vernacular form of house found in Charleston, South Carolina.

The houses often have only two rooms with one or both having doors onto a piazza on the side. The houses often had less than 500 square feet.[1] The two rooms are arranged perpendicularly to the street and often have a fireplace between the front and rear room with a shared flue. The form is sometimes compared to the Charleston single house; a Charleston single house also has two rooms per floor arranged perpendicularly to the street, often with piazzas, but divides the two room with a short staircase to the upper floors.[2]

Although commonly called "freedman's cottages," suggesting that the small houses were built after the American Civil War by newly freed people, the house form was actually popular with working-class families of all races and backgrounds until the early 20th century.[3] The "freedman's cottage" name was not used until the 1990s, and most of the examples were built between 1880 and 1910.[4]

  • Charleston cottages are always small houses with a piazza along one side.
  • Exterior doors from each room to the piazza as seen at 167 Romney Street increased the flexibility of a very simple interior layout.
  • Charleston cottages were not completely without architectural details as this example at 6 Larnes Street shows.
  • Many Charleston cottages have had additions to enlarge them such as this example at 1 Sutherland Court which had a room added at a right angle the house.

References
  1. Behre, Robert (October 26, 2008). "Cottages had little to do with freedmen". Post and Courier. Charleston, South Carolina.
  2. "Freedman's Cottages - Collection". Historic Charleston Foundation.
  3. Miles, Suzannah (February 2014). "Charleston Cottages". Charleston.
  4. Behre, Robert (October 26, 2008). "Cottages had little to do with freedmen". Post and Courier. Charleston, South Carolina.
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