Lower Church Street preserves Charleston's architectural wealth from 18th century to 1910s

Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier

Brick, stucco and wood-frame homes mark southernmost Church Street, where dwellings date from the late 1700s to the early 1900s.

Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier

Carriage Properties is listing this circa 1840s, 6,600-square-foot Charleston single house, which has a newer remodeled garage, for $3.6 million. It's on a double lot, unusual for the city's Historic District.

Leroy Burnell
The Post and Courier

A brick-bordered wall and iron gate frame the entry to the gardens of a lower Church Street residence.

Scores of Old Charleston youngsters, children of the '60s, would pedal their cool banana bikes to friends' houses on two narrow blocks of Church Street connecting the Battery with Water Street.

That was four decades ago. Yet it's recent history for lower Church Street.

Go back to the 1790s, and residents of the newly formed United States of America saddled horses to visit neighbors. In the 1840 and '50s, carriages taxied antebellum families to and fro. And by the turn of the 20th century, early automobiles chugged by.

The two brick-paved blocks, on a part of Church Street that cuts west at Water in what's known as "the Bend," are a little overlooked today, unusual since the historic district's thriving tourist trade is but a few hundred feet away. Carriages aren't allowed, and vehicles heading in opposite directions can barely squeeze by each other. Throw in a parked car, and it's near gridlock. Even trying to turn off is not easy. There's just one crossing artery, Atlantic Street.

Yet the lane's quiet obscurity, a minus in terms of name recognition, is its strength as a place to live, whether year-round or part-time in a trophy house. Visitors don't peek in the windows, tour guides don't bring sightseers.

"You're close enough to East Bay (and) far enough (away)," says Chuck Sullivan, Realtor for Carriage Properties who is listing 18 Church St. for $3.6 million. Need to get across town, and East Bay, King and

Meeting streets are a minute away. Want privacy, and you can't see traffic on any of them for the oaks and magnolias.

Thomas Brown has walked a mail route since the late 1990s that takes him to the street's two dozen homes. Brown, a 39-year veteran, says Church's lower end differs from other delivery routes he's trekked. It's "more peaceful, quiet, a nice place," he says.

Not that solitude is for everybody.

"What it is, people who come through a house like the floor plan," Sullivan says. Some people prefer or at least don't mind a more visible property. "It's putting the right person with the house," says Sullivan, who lives nearby.

While in an older part of a 328-year-old city, Church Street at its terminus developed in waves rather than all at once. The oldest homes, dating back more than two centuries, are to the north. Construction moved down the street. The newest homes were built less than 100 years ago, Sullivan says.

The wide time frame between the first new home on lower Church and the last one makes the blocks distinctive. A flow of looks, colors and materials also helps. Stucco, wood and brick facades, single homes and mini-estates, gabled roofs, arched driveways, iron gates, lush gardens, all are features of the residential corridor.

Residences such as 18 Church have been able to stay rooted in the street's historic ambiance while going through modernization and architectural upgrades. The 6,600-square-foot triple-decker has all the accoutrements of an 1840s single house with piazzas on each level, hardwood floors, bedroom fireplaces. But there's also central heat and air, and a modern kitchen. A two-story brick guest house, connected on the back side, can be closed off for privacy.

An unusual feature is that 18 Church is on a double lot, a rarity in land-precious downtown. With double the typical footprint, the lot has room for a driveway, large yard and foliage. Yet there's space left over, if someone chose, to build a swimming pool, Sullivan says.

Another perk is the nearly 1,200-square-foot garage. Along with a carpeted car parking area, the garage has marble floors on the first level and a "FROG" unlike any other, an opulent drawing room capable of holding up to 30 guests. Sullivan says the high-end garage replaced a not-that-attractive metal structure.

The 160-year-old single home, which went on the market a couple of months ago, has drawn interest from locals and out-of-towners alike.

"It's kind of a corporate retreat," he says.

That's fitting for a strip of downtown Charleston where getting away from it all is a neighborhood hallmark.

The Post and Courier

Locale

Lower Church Street (between Water Street and the Battery).

County

Charleston

History

The brick-paved blocks to Atlantic Street and to the Battery are known as below "the bend" because Church Street cuts west at Water Street before continuing north-south. The oldest homes are toward the north end, dating as far back at the 1700s. Homes closer to the Battery were built from the 1840s to the early 1900s. Church Street, including lower Church, has a lion's share of Carolopolis Awards for historic preservation. And, according to one published account, the street has more ghosts per capita than any roadway in town.

Distances to features

--White Point Gardens, 0.1 mile.

--Hazel Parker Playground, 0.5 mile.

--Charleston Museum, 3 miles.

--Riley Park, 5 miles.

--Beaches, 8 miles.

--North Charleston Coliseum, 10 miles.

--Charleston International Airport, 12 miles.

--Daniel Island, 20 miles.

Property taxes

$4,245 on a $1 million home.

Housing Trends

Peninsula inside the Crosstown:

Number of sales in the second quarter of 2008: 125 (down from 154 in the second quarter of 2007).

Average sales price: $654,800 (down from $920,900).

Median sales price: $450,000 (down from $565,000).