Charleston Loan Exhibition

9 of fine and decorative arts related to the house. In recent years, grants and private donations have enabled the curatorial staff to identify and acquire significant objects of Russell family provenance that further relate the way of life of Charleston’s merchant elite in the early days of the American Republic. Built in 1818 by merchant John Robinson, the Aiken-Rhett House was purchased by HCF and then greatly expanded and grandly decorated by Governor and Mrs. William Aiken Jr. in 1837. Further additions were made in the 1850s, and the property has survived virtually unaltered since 1858. Original outbuildings include the kitchen, slave quarters, stables, privies and cattle sheds, which as a group offers a glimpse of life in the nineteenth-century city unavailable anywhere else in Charleston. As an intact “urban plantation” the Aiken-Rhett House is an evocative link to Charleston’s antebellum period. In 2008 Museum Department staff members completed a comprehensive retrospective of the two museum houses entitled Grandeur Preserved. This informative and beautifully illustrated book explains the architectural and decorative elements of the houses and includes fascinating notes regarding previous owners of these houses. The Foundation encourages and promotes private investment and stewardship of historic buildings and neighborhoods through its nationally renowned Edmunds Revolving Fund for Historic Preservation (established in 1958) and a Conservation Easement Program (established in 1981). The Revolving Fund was designed to acquire and protect endangered or stagnating buildings and to find buyers willing to accept restrictive easements and/or covenants and to undertake sensitive restoration or rehabilitation. The purchase money goes back into the Revolving Fund to continue the process. Through the Conservation Easement Program, the Foundation holds a legal interest in almost 400 buildings of architectural or historic importance throughout the historic district and the Carolina Lowcountry. In recent years, emphasis has been put on the importance of interior easements as well as exterior easements. The annual Festival of Houses and Gardens, Charleston International Antiques Show, the Historic Charleston Licensed Products Program, and the Museum Shops operations are integral to the Foundation as sources of support for important preservation initiatives and museum acquisitions. Historic Charleston Foundation is honored to present the best of Charleston as the Loan Exhibitor for the 2011 Winter Antiques Show. Grandeur Preserved: Masterworks Presented by Historic Charleston Foundation, sponsored by Chubb Personal Insurance, highlights the importance of preserving our nation’s treasures and historic structures for future generations. Katharine S. Robinson Executive Director Historic Charleston Foundation The Nathaniel Russell House, 1808. 51 Meeting Street, Charleston, S.C. Set amid spacious formal gardens, the Nathaniel Russell House is a National Historic Landmark and is widely recognized as one of America’s most important neoclassical dwellings. The graceful interior, with elaborate plasterwork ornamentation, geometrically shaped rooms, and a magnificent free flying staircase, is among the most exuberant ever built in Federal America. Photograph by Rick McKee. Aiken Rhett-House, c. 1820; expanded 1830s. 48 Elizabeth Street, Charleston, S.C. Acquired by the foundation in 1995, the property, which remained in the family until 1975, has survived as a unique time capsule, virtually unaltered since the late nineteenth century. Original outbuildings include the kitchen, slaves’ quarters, stable, coach house, and privies, which, combined with the main house, form a rare nineteenth-century urban complex. The structures are evidence of the relationship between those who lived in the main house and the enslaved African Americans who maintained the property. Photograph by Carroll Ann Bowers.