Festival of Houses and Gardens |
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Veranda View of Two Meeting Street
From the rocking chairs on the veranda of Two Meeting Street, guests enjoy a fabulous view of White Point Gardens.
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55 Church Street
Cherokee roses adorn the entrance to the Benjamin Phillip House, c. 1818.
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Meeting Street Wisteria
One of the oldest wisteria vines in Charleston blooms annually at 54 Meeting Street, across the street from the Nathaniel Russell House.
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A Peek Beyond the Gate
A beautiful garden view from the Rutledge Avenue tour.
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Charleston Flowerbox
(photo credit: Ron Rocz)
Spring flowers in Charleston's Old and Historic District.
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Floral Fence
(photo credit: Ron Rocz)
Charleston's annual Festival of Houses and Gardens is held at the peak of the city's blooming season.
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View of St. Philip's Church Steeple
(photo credit: Ron Rocz)
A view of St. Philip's steeple from an East Bay Street garden.
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Stoll's Alley
Stoll's Alley is a small pedestrian passage connecting East Bay and Church streets.
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A Church Street Garden
Although Mrs. Emily Whaley passed away shortly after her book, Mrs. Whaley and Her Charleston Garden, was published in 1998,
her garden remains one of the highlights of the Festival's Glorious Gardens tours. The garden has been beautifully updated and is now lovingly maintained by
her daughter, Marty Whaley Adams Cornwell, a renowned artist and garden writer in her own right.
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Peppermint Peach Tree
(photo credit: Ron Rocz)
Visitors always admire Charleston's peppermint peach tree, which can bloom in white, light pink and fuchsia, all mixed on one bush.
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South Battery Garden
(photo credit: Ron Rocz)
Festival guests enjoy strolling through a garden on South Battery.
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Charleston International Antiques Show
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View of High Battery as seen from the Show
(photo credit: Ron Rocz)
CIAS takes place at the top of the city's historic High Battery.
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Preview Party Guests
(photo credit: Rick McKee)
John Rivers, a collector of Charleston-made antiques, with HCF Executive Director Kitty Robinson and S.C. Governor Mark Sanford at the 2005 Preview Party.
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Emil Carlsen (1853-1932), "Still Life with Roses and Mandolin"
(no photo credit)
This oil on canvas piece was offered at the 2005 CIAS show by McColl Fine Art of Charlotte, N.C., one of the premier art
galleries in the Southeast, specializing in fine American and European paintings from the 18th through early 20th centuries.
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Evaluating Art
(photo credit: Rick McKee)
Dick Jenrette (left) and Bill Thompson (right) study a piece of art with dealer Christopher T. Rebollo. Rebollo's gallery works with
both private and public institutions to provide expert advice and services in collections management.
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Jane Hanahan and Sumpter Priddy
(photo credit: Rick McKee)
HCF Past President Jane Hanahan enjoys the Preview Party with Sumpter Priddy III, author of American Fancy: Exuberance
in the Arts 1790 - 1840, and a speaker for the 2005 CIAS Luncheon Lecture Series.
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Antique and Couture Clothing
(no photo credit)
Katy Kane Inc, who for more than 25 years has purchased, sold and appraised antique and couture clothing, accessories and fine
linens, exhibits at select antique shows on the East Coast. Her clients include museums, private collectors, fashion designers and Hollywood celebrities.
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Richard H. Jenrette and S.C. Governor Mark Sanford
(photo credit: Rick McKee)
At the 2005 CIAS Preivew Party
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Floor Shot of 2005 Show
(photo credit: Rick McKee)
CIAS features a diverse range of antiques from the 17th to late 19th centuries.
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Nathaniel Russell House
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Stair Hall
(photo credit: Rick Rhodes)
The Nathaniel Russell House is perhaps best known for its magnificent free-flying buttress staircase. A marvelous example of
African-American craftsmanship, the staircase appears to rise through all three of the house's main floors without any visible
means of support. The color of the hall is called "Russell's Gold" and is believed to be reflective of the hall's original color,
based on intense paint analysis conducted during the house's recent restoration. This color, along with others, are now available
through Sherwin-Williams' "Colors of Historic Charleston" paint palette. A portion of the purchase price of each gallon of paint
is donated back to HCF in support of its preservation mission.
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Exterior
(photo credit: Bill Struhs)
The Nathaniel Russell House was built in 1808 by a local merchant who came to Charleston from Rhode Island and was
known as "King of the Yankees." It is unique among Charleston's mansions in that it features three important geometric
designs within its footprint: a front rectangular room, a center oval room and a square room in the back. The house is
one of the finest examples of neoclassic architecture found in the U.S. today.
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Nathaniel Russell House garden
Like other Charleston garden enthusiasts from the past and present, the Russell family's garden was composed of a series of
"rooms out of doors." A visitor standing in the front garden room (foreground), looks down through a bricked garden "hallway"
into the large "back room" lawn space, which features an arbor bench.
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Doors
(photo credit: Rick Rhodes)
These doors separated the front office and reception room from the family's personal living space. An invitation
past these doors was an invitation to be entertained in what remains to be one of the most important examples of
neoclassical architecture in America.
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First-Floor Oval Dining Room
(photo credit: Rick Rhodes)
The color of this room was selected from a very small wallpaper fragment found under a bell-pull knob.
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Second-Floor Drawing Room
(photo credit: Bill Struhs)
Ladies often retired to the second floor oval drawing room, or music room, after dinner. An important element of the
house's recent restoration was the painstakingly detailed restoration of the elaborate cornices.
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Withdrawing Room
(photo credit: Rick Rhodes)
Charleston's Ladies Benevolent Society, of which Mrs. Russell was an active member, met here in the Withdrawing Room, which runs the full width of the house.
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Aiken-Rhett House
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Exterior
(photo credit: Bill Struhs)
The grand townhouse of William Aiken Jr., c. 1818, is now operated as a house museum by Historic Charleston Foundation. It
has one of the most intact complexes of dependencies, including slave quarters, left in America. With nearly all of its
architectural and decorative details unaltered since the 1850s, the site is managed and interpreted as a conservation effort.
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Art Gallery
(photo credit: Rick Rhodes)
The Aikens collected extensively during their trips to Europe, and in 1858 built this art gallery to display their fine pieces.
The gallery has recently been restored with new infrastructure to control the humidity levels in the art gallery. Included in the
newly adopted conservation plan for the house are efforts to restore the paintings found in the gallery to their original splendor.
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Slave Quarters
(photo credit: Terry Richardson)
The slave quarters were located above the kitchen/laundry complex as well as above the stables, from which this shot was taken.
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