The Charleston Single House

Charleston has modest origins: a colonial fort on the edge of civilization; an early attempt at a stronghold for England in the southern colonies.

The first settlers of the Lowcountry arrived from the Caribbean Island of Barbados – sugar plantation owners and farmers looking to establish a colony to expand their holdings. First landing at a site in West Ashley, plantations were established with slave labor throughout the Lowcountry, initially in the area of Goose Creek.

Ultimately the peninsula was the prize of the Lowcountry.
Formed at the convergence of the tidal Ashley River and the deep Cooper River, what would become Downtown Charleston jutted into a broad harbor feeding directly into the trade routes of the Atlantic Ocean.

As the fortified walls of a modest provincial port arose within the high ground of the peninsula, Charles Town was growing rapidly into a market city, serving as the coastal face for inland agricultural plantations.

As such, wealthier residents were establishing homes in the city near the shipping ports of international commerce. The architecture of the homes within adapted to the nature of colonial life, while reflecting the architectural legacy of the original settlers: narrow, single width designs commonly seen in Bridgetown and elsewhere in Barbados.

There was some diversity in the established residences of Charles Town, largely informed by English designs of the era – from the row houses on Tradd Street and East Bay Street, to colossal Georgian mansions within the peninsula and along The Battery. 
Between various natural disasters and seven citywide fire events, the forms, designs, and positioning of homes in the port city have evolved in response to these as well as social, financial, and cultural forces.

One form emerged and persisted that was not only unique to the Charleston peninsula, but has become an iconic, defining characteristic of the city’s built environment:
It was the Charleston Single House design that was the most adaptable to the unique pressures that forged the City of Charleston in the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Following a series of devastating fires on the island of Barbados, nearly all of the single house stock has been destroyed, leaving the single house design almost entirely unique to the City of Charleston. 
The flavors of Barbados persist in Charleston though: in our architecture, the pastel home colors, and our love for a good rum.

While there are many variations in architectural styles and lot placements, there are a number of defining characteristics of the Charleston Single House:

• A single room in width (hence the name) with three rooms along its length, including the central hall. The narrow side of the building faces the street, with one room on each floor claiming a street view.
• The front door to the home is placed in the middle of the length side, not street facing. The door opens into a short hallway and staircase between the two length-side rooms.
• Piazzas (“porches” in Charleston speak) flank the full length side of typically the first two floors. Often a street-facing door is placed onto the first floor piazza.
• One or more dependencies: originally kitchen and laundry houses, servants quarters, stables, and other utilitarian structures – these were often later attached to the main home by way of a “hyphen” or demolished.

It’s the subject of much discourse, and there is no one simple answer. The prevalence of the Charleston Single House is the product of many factors, whose influences waxed or waned from one cultural and architectural era to another.

In the early 18th century England imposed an urban planning design on its colonies across the pond known as the Grand Modell – characterized by blocks of slender lots with narrow sides facing the street.

The principle behind the Grand Modell was to maximize the number of lots that could be squeezed into a limited space – such as behind the walls of a provincial fort on a peninsula.

The footprint of the Charleston Single House makes the best use of the space afforded by this rectangular lot design, with the true front of the home facing the interior of the lot.

Charleston Single Houses were positioned on their lots to best take advantage of the natural cooling effect of breezes emanating from Charleston Harbor.

The length side of the homes are deliberately west- or south-facing, so that the piazzas on the structure naturally shade the windows during the hottest part of the day, again providing a cooling effect to the interior rooms.

The second floor of the Charleston Single and its attached piazza are typically where the homeowners move the entertaining of guests in the evening, as its height above the street level is more apt to catch the harbor breeze.

The rear of the Charleston Single House is right on the lot line, making the most of the lot space facing the other direction.
There are no mandatory setbacks in Historic Charleston, so stay on friendly terms with your neighbor. 
The back wall is typically solid with very few openings, often only a single window illuminating the center stairwell.
The fireplaces and chimneys are situated here as well.

The primary purpose of this design element was originally intended as a barrier to protect the home from a fire spreading beyond adjacent buildings; it’s probably not a coincidence that the popularity of the Charleston Single surged after the first disastrous city-wide blaze of 1740 destroyed many row houses.

The back wall also provided a measure of privacy, as the length-side fronts of adjacent homes faced only their own lots, and the back wall abutted against the lot line of the neighboring home.