Today, Tuesday December 16th in Goose Creek, South Carolina of a magnitude of 3.6!!!

In case you were wondering, South Carolina does not get many earthquakes.

I caught a show about a restoration guy. He took old homes—like dilapidated, abandoned 1899 homes—restored them and sold them. He made sure to stress several times that “this is NOT a flip, it’s a resto!” The difference is that he doesn’t just rehab them to code; he makes every effort to restore the home to its original style.  And he’s not alone in these old urban neighborhoods. There are plenty of rehabbers, although far fewer restorers. My favorite part of the show was when he visited all the other construction sites, raiding their dumpsters for all of the original—and very valuable—doors and other hardware that they were tossing out. He made the mistake of proclaiming loudly to the camera about how stupid and wasteful these other contractors were (he had a bit of an ego,) and he got chased away. But not before he loaded his pickup with $200 doors!

Find out more about architects and architecture in SC here.

Mid-Century modern is an architectural style that has a lot of general features and offshoots. Simply put, think of it as those ranches and split-levels in the 1950s and early 60s. My personal favorite style is the craftsman bungalow, but mid-century modern is a close second. This style emphasized structures with ample windows and open floor-plans. This opened up interior spaces and brought the outdoors in. I often drive by these wide, low homes with entire walls of windows and think, “so, I’m guessing oil wasn’t $120 a barrel then?”  Truly, this was a design that did not stress energy efficiency!

Find out more about architects and architecture in SC here.

Everybody loves a bungalow.  With its tapering columns, wainscoting and built-in cabinetry, the Bungalow is an all-American design. Or is it? Actually the design, or its inspiration, came from India’s Bengal region. Bengal/bungalow, get it? British colonists adopted these one-story huts as summer cottages. And they carried elements of the design back to Europe.  The style was popular here in the states from the 19-teens into the 30s.  They are popular as rehabs today, but some of the norms of the bungalow period don’t translate well. First, they’re small. Second, they have hardly any closet space.  So, you’re more likely to see modern, bungalow-inspired designs instead.

To learn more about architects and architecture in SC, click here.

You will often see the letters AIA in reference to your architect. What’s that mean? AIA is the American Institute of Architects. The AIA has been the primary professional organization for architects for over 150 years. There are over 80,000 members who are committed to “excellence and livability” in America’s buildings and communities. They have helped standardize the industry in terms of education, certifications and contract terms. So, if you hire an architect with an AIA on his or her business card, you know they meet the industry standard for professionalism.

If you need more information about hiring an architect in SC, click HERE.

Training to be an Architect

When you hire an architect, you might wonder about the kind of training and education goes into earning that title. In South Carolina and elsewhere, it takes several years. Your architect must be certified and licensed by the state of SC. An architect sometimes has as much as 5 years of undergrad education in architecture, and a masters degree takes even longer. Often, architecture firms will hire architecture grads out of college, where a licensed architect will supervise them until they receive their state certification and licensing.

If you need more information about hiring an architect in SC, click HERE.

Greek Revival Architecture in South Carolina.

Greek revival architecture, known for its columns and arches, was popular from the mid 18^th century until about the time of the Civil War. Ancient Greece had a huge influence on modern Europe, but people knew very little was known about it before the mid-1700’s. But when Greek culture was “rediscovered” by westerners in Europe and America, it was huge.

Examples of Greek Revival architecture in South Carolina include:

• The Aiken-Rhett House in Charleston
• The Beaufort Baptist Church
• Tullyton, or the Bolling-Stewart House in Fountain Inn
• The Governor’s Mansion in Columbia
• The Annandale Plantation in Georgetown

Olympia Mill was designed and constructed in 1899 by W.B. Smith Whaley & Company, the most important designer and developer of textile mills in South Carolina at the turn of the twentieth century. It was widely reported to be “the largest cotton mill under one roof in the world.” The mill, which manufactured fine cotton print cloth, employed 1,200 operatives manning 2,600 looms and 100,000 spindles. The building reflects the standardization of textile mill architecture during the last decade of the nineteenth century.

The large window openings brought in natural light, and the surviving open floor plan and fire resistive heavy timber framing provided uninterrupted floors with the structural capacity necessary to support the massive machines used in textile manufacturing. The power plant, which housed three powerful generators, was revolutionary at the time the mill opened. In addition to its functional design, the building features elements of the Romanesque style including soaring twin towers embellished with tall pilasters and terra cotta arches.

More Architecture Resources can be found at www.architects.sc 

When you envision a Southern-style home, a variety of architectural motifs may come to mind — sturdy white pillars, a grand elliptical staircase, or a sprawling front porch.

But as you may know, there is not just one architectural style associated with the South. Depending on the region, you might see plantation-style homes, American Federal styles, and even French Creole styles. But Southern homes do tend to have one thing in common: charm, and lots of it.

By learning about the roots of Southern architecture, you’ll be able to spot influences in your market area and help your buyers find a home that is elegant yet comfortable for day-to-day living.

Classic Details

Fans of the movie “Gone With the Wind” may think that the Georgia plantation home of Scarlett O’Hara’s Tara is an indigenous Southern style. However, her Antebellum home — with its stately white columns, expansive porch, and symmetrical shape — is actually derived from Greek Revival and Roman architecture.

Such home features were common in homes around the United States — not just in the South — in the late 1700s to the mid 1800s. But there are some very good reasons why this look is commonly associated with the South, says William H. Bates III, an architect and professor of drawing and design at the American College of the Building Arts in Charleston, S.C.:

• The country’s greatest number of Greek Revival homes survived in the South because the area’s economy languished after the Civil War. Because many Southern home owners couldn’t afford to tear down or remodel their homes, as people were doing on other areas of the country, they had to leave their homes intact. By the time the economy improved in the 1940s, people were more interested in spending money to restore rather than replace the stock.

• Thomas Jefferson popularized the look with his Monticello home and the University of Virginia campus he designed. Both are located in Charlottesville, Va. In the late 1700s, he also played a role in designing the neoclassical U.S. Capitol building, which borrows from Greek and Roman styles.

Learn more about Southern Architecture at Architects.sc

South Carolina, with Virginia and Maryland, was an old and rich Southern “plantation,” with luxurious architecture from its beginnings, but as the state developed it became two cultures, the low-country of aristocratic planters and an up-country of democratic small farmers, with patterns of culture and architecture that were very different from each other.

But there are many surprises as well: Archdale Hall, an early Palladian mansion even earlier than Drayton Hall; The Elms, a Jefferson-style country house with octagonal rooms; and James Frazier’s fabulous Gothic octagon. We learn about Charleston “single” houses, tabby (a concrete-like mixture of oyster shells and sand), pisé de terre (walls made of beaten earth), buildings made by the book (copied from architecture pattern books) and the influence of Northern builders and architects.

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