Charleston Loan Exhibition

11 1950–59 HCF leads efforts to save the Bennett Rice Mill on Charleston’s eastern waterfront after it is condemned as a fire hazard and threatened with demolition. Hurricane Donna will destroy all but the façade in 1960. In the wake of Hurricane Hugo, HCF establishes the Building Crafts Training Program and the façade becomes the training ground for a new generation of skilled craftspeople and artisans qualified to rebuild and restore the city’s architectural heritage. 1955 HCF purchases the Nathaniel Russell House, c. 1808, one of the nation’s finest examples of early 19th century Neoclassical architecture. The house opens to the public as a museum a year later. Every year more than 55,000 visitors experience the grandeur of the property’s spacious gardens, free-standing staircase and ornate architectural details. Realizing the structur’s potential as an exhibition space, founding trustee Josephine Pinckney and the Furnishings and Decoration Committee begin procuring museum pieces by loan and purchase. Today, the collection includes some of the most significant examples of 18th and 19th century decorative and fine arts from America and abroad. 1966 After noteworthy losses to Charleston’s stock of historic buildings, HCF sponsors a zoning study that leads to a significant revision of the city’s 1931 zoning ordinance. The Old and Historic District expands to triple its former size with the inclusion of neighborhoods like Ansonborough and Harleston Village that lie north of Broad Street. 1971 Frances R. Edmunds receives the coveted Louise du Pont Crowninshield Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for HCF’s innovative, far-reaching preservation efforts. 1971–74 HCF plays a key role in the development of the city’s Historic Preservation Plan of 1974. One of the most significant changes to result from this plan is HCF’s height ordinance proposal that ensures the integrity of historic streetscapes south of Calhoun Street. 1957–76 HCF establishes the nation’s first Revolving Fund to rehabilitate the Ansonborough neighborhood. By buying a property, restoring it, selling it to a preservation-minded buyer, then reinvesting the proceeds to purchase another house in the neighborhood, HCF establishes a pioneering urban renewal and preservation initiative that continues to serve as a national model. By 1976, HCF has saved a six-block neighborhood, including no fewer than 60 buildings. 64 Y EARS OF M AKING A D IFFERENCE … 1982 HCF underwrites a tourism management study for the city. The resulting Tourism Management Plan, adopted by the city in 1994, regulates the size and operation of buses and carriage groups in the Old and Historic District. 1984 Through its Revolving Fund, HCF purchases the William Gibbes House, c. 1772, 64 South Battery, to save it from development as an inn or condominiums and to prevent the subdivision of its garden for townhouses. The house will be sold in 1986 to a conservation-minded buyer who donates an easement to ensure its future as a single-family residence. 1984 As a member of a coalition called Friends of Historic Snee Farm, HCF joins with other preservationists to purchase and protect the 18th century homesite of S.C. Governor and framer of the U.S. Constitution Charles Pinckney (1757-1824). The site will open to the public in 1995 as the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, operated by the National Park Service. 1987 HCF purchases Mulberry Plantation, c. 1711, an 800-acre plantation on the Cooper River in Berkeley County, thus saving it from development as a golf course and suburban neighborhood. It is sold in 1988 to a preservation minded owner who donates the most comprehensive easement ever received by the Foundation. 1989 On September 21, 1989 Hurricane Hugo hits the coast of Charleston with 135 mph winds causing approximately $7 billion worth in damages throughout the state. Countless historic sites in the city are damaged during the storm. 2000 USC Press, in cooperation with HCF, publishes Historic Preservation for a Living City by USC Professor Robert R. Weyeneth. The book captures the Foundation’s first 50 years and charts its path- breaking approach to preservation. Katharine S. Robinson becomes the Executive Directive Director of Historic Charleston Foundation. 2001 Purchased in 1996, the historic Captain James Missroon House (ca. 1808) at 40 East Bay Street reopens as the headquarters and preservation resource center for Historic Charleston Foundation after a 6-year restoration and rehabilitation. 2004-2007 HCF receives a Save America’s Treasures Grant to perform an extensive exterior restoration of the Aiken-Rhett House. The Foundation preserves the building’s envelope in order to help protect the fragile, irreplaceable historic finishes and artifacts within the house. Currently, the focus is on stabilizing and conserving—but not restoring—the historic interiors. 2005 The Foundation’s nationally recognized Revolving Fund was revitalized, in large part due to a generous bequest of Elizabeth G. Woodward. 2007 In honor of its 60th anniversary, HCF donates $75,000 to the City of Charleston to undertake a much needed update of the city’s ground- breaking Preservation Plan of 1974. This enormous project, the result of intensive research, planning and community input, will serve as a lasting gift to the community. 2008 The Mayor’s Walled City Task Force, under the leadership of Katherine Saunders, co-chair, uncovers a wealth of artifacts and new information in an archaeological excavation of Charleston’s original fortifications wall under what is now South Adger’s Wharf. 2008 HCF is recognized as one of the state’s most fiscally responsible nonprofit organizations by the S.C. Secretary of State, reflecting its commitment to using donor contributions efficiently and effectively. In addition, Grandeur Preserved: The House Museums of the Historic Charleston Foundation is published for the 200th anniversary celebration for the Nathaniel Russell House. The book, co-authored and edited by Curator Brandy S. Culp, highlights both of HCF’s house museums, the Nathaniel Russell (c. 1808) and the Aiken-Rhett Houses (c. 1820).