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Date

Spring 3-1978

Description

The intersection of Broad and Meeting, seen here in this aerial photograph, is known as the Four Corners of Law, because of St. Michael’s Church (Divine), City Hall (local), the Charleston County Courthouse (County), and the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse (Federal).

St. Michael’s Church (1752-61) is the oldest religious structure in the city. It was designed by an architect by the name of Gibson (Simons & Lapham) and continues to be an active Episcopal church.

The Charleston City Hall, just to the north of St. Michaels Church, is attributed to Gabriel Manigault, who designed the building in the federalist style denounced by architect Robert Mills as “showy.” (Poston 167). Completed in 1804, the building was renovated several times during the nineteenth century, including renovations by architect Charles Reichardt.

Across from the face of St. Michael’s is the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, designed by John Henry Devereux, was completed in 1896 and features the style of the Renaissance Revival with a prominent cornice, balustrades, and quoins. The building is made of granite from Winnsboro, South Carolina.

North of the U.S. Courthouse is the Charleston County Courthouse, originally constructed in 1753. It was heavily reconstructed in 1792 after fire damage.

Notes

http://www.gsa.gov/portal/ext/html/site/hb/category/25431/actionParameter/exploreByBuilding/buildingId/568

(accessed 6 Dec 2011)

Poston, Jonathan H. The Buildings of Charleston: A Guide to the City’s Architecture (Columbia: South Carolina University Press, 1997)pp. 166-168

Simons, Albert and Lapham, Samuel. The Early Architecture of Charleston. (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1970)

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

1840-1920

Creator 2 Role

Architect

Creator 3 Dates

1758-1809

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

government buildings, federal buildings, religious buildings, architecture, aerial, land use

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