Built 1721 Architectural style Other Opened 1721 Added to NRHP 15 October 1966 | Architect Unknown NRHP Reference # 66000700 Area 4,047 m² | |
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Address 71 Church St, Charleston, SC 29401, USA Similar Miles Brewton House, Clark Mills Studio, Dubose Heyward House, Edward Rutledge House, Colonel John Stuart House | ||
The Robert Brewton House is a historic house at 71 Church Street in Charleston, South Carolina. With a construction date at or before 1730, it is the oldest dated example of a "single" house. A single house is one room wide, with the narrow end towards the street, the better to catch cool breezes. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1960.
Description and history
The house is set on a narrow lot on the west side of Church Street in Old Charleston. The property upon which the house is built was purchased by Robert Brewton on March 15, 1712, and he sold it on January 5, 1722. An ad for the property referred to a tenement in which Brewton lived, suggesting that the house was built at least by 1721. A deed for the neighboring house at 73 Church St. also referred to the building in 1733. Robert Brewton was born in 1698 and was married twice. At times he was a church warden and a captain for the Charlestown militia. He was elected to the Commons House of Assembly in 1736 and became the powder receiver in 1745.
The house is a rectangular hip-roofed brick structure, three stories in height, presenting three bays to the front, with a narrow driveway to the south to which the house presents five bays and its main entrance. It has stuccoed corner quoining, and decorative stuccoed keystone elements over the windows. The building is known to have had a porch across the main facade; it was not original to the building, and was removed at an unknown date. The house was built for Robert Brewton by his father, Miles Brewton, whose house on King Street is also a National Historic Landmark.