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Date

Winter 1-1978

Description

This aerial photograph looks south west across the peninsula that is downtown Charleston. The mouth of the Ashley River empties into the Charleston Harbor on the horizon, while the foreground is spotted with the city’s many historical and architecturally significant buildings.

In the foreground is the South Carolina State Aresenal, also known as the Old Citadel, which is distinguished by it’s Romanesque architecture and interior courtyard. Designed by Frederkick Wesner in 1822, it was finished by the end of the decade. In 1843 the site became the South Carolina Military College. In 1995 the building was ‘gutted’ while being fit for reuse as a hotel. Although the central arch is original, much of the remaining structure has been renovated or rebuilt since the 1820s.

Adjacent to the Old Citadel is the city’s greenspace, Marion Square. The square is home to many monuments and memorials.

Also of note are the many religious structures in the photograph, which are due in part to Charleston’s history of religious tolerance dating back to the Colonial period.

Notes

Poston, Jonathan H. The Buildings of Charleston: A Guide to the City’s Architecture. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997) pp. 394

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/charleston/ssa.htm

(accessed 30 Nov 2011)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charleston,_South_Carolina

(accessed 30 Nov 2011)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marion_Square

(accessed 30 Nov 2011)

Rights

This object from the Chester E. Smolski photographic slides and publications, housed by the Rhode Island College Special Collections, and any of its digital surrogates are the intellectual property of Rhode Island College. This digital object is protected by copyright and/or related rights. The digital material presented here is licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. This content can be used, shared, or adapted for educational and scholarly purposes. For permissions to use this item please contact digitalcommons@ric.edu. All uses must include appropriate attribution.

Creator 1 Role

Photographer

Creator 2 Dates

1788-1848

Creator 2 Role

Architect

Creator 3 Dates

1806-1882

Creator 3 Role

Architect

Recommended Citation

Chester E. Smolski photographic slides and publications, MSS-0041, Special Collections, James P. Adams Library, Rhode Island College.

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Keywords

public spaces, aerial, downtown, land use, the Citadel, Marion Square, religious buildings

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