John Rutledge House

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Description:

Black and white photograph of the quoins, cornice, window hood and consol details of the John Rutledge House located at 116 Broad Street.

John Rutledge built this house c. 1763, as a wedding gift to his wife, Elizabeth Grimk?. Originally constructed in the Georgian style, it was changed to its present ornate design in 1853 by then owner, Thomas Norman Gadsden. He added terra cotta window lintels, intricate cast-ironwork by Christopher Werner, acanthus and anthemion motifs as well as end columns. John Rutledge, a lawyer and judge, lived in the house from its construction until 1790. During that time he was a delegate in the Stamp Act Congress, served in the First and Second Continental Congress, was President of South Carolina (1776-1778) and then Governor (1779-1782). He was also a member of the South Carolina Assembly, and the U.S. Constitutional Convention where he signed the Constitution of the United States in 1778.

Photographer Charles N. Bayless, funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, photographed and recorded the Carolina Lowcountry between 1970 and 1988. The South Carolina Project took place between 1977 and 1979.