An Introduction to Charleston's House Types

As one of the oldest cities in the United States, Charleston is known for its distinctive historic architecture. From brightly painted row houses to the city’s famously “sideways” single houses, Charleston’s vernacular architecture is one of its greatest treasures. These are some of the most common house types you’ll see throughout the city:

Row Houses

Some of the oldest houses in Charleston are row houses, which are, as you might guess, houses built all together in a row. Technically, a row house is at least two stories, and shares at least one wall and roofline with a neighbor - they differ from townhouses in that the facades are aligned in row houses, while townhouses can be staggered. This style of house was first developed in Europe in the early 17th century and became popular in port cities, where the practical structures could make the most use of the limited available land. In Charleston, the first floor was typically where business was conducted, while the upper floor(s) provided living space. 

Perhaps the most famous stretch of row houses in Charleston is Rainbow Row, which comprises a series of thirteen historic houses on E Bay Street between Elliott and Tradd Streets. They face what was once Charleston’s wharves, and therefore housed businesses that served incoming sailors, including merchant offices, taverns, boardinghouses, and brothels. After the Civil War, the area slipped into poverty and disrepair. In the 1920s and 1930s, Susan Pringle Frost, a women’s suffrage activist and advocate of historic preservation, convinced friends to purchase the historic houses along East Bay and restore them to re-sell, in a practice not unlike contemporary “house-flipping.” Frost’s friends opted to paint their houses in bright, historically inaccurate colors, and the series of homes became known as Rainbow Row. 

You can spot other examples of row houses in many of the older neighborhoods of Charleston - we’re especially partial to the ones on Queen street near Church street, which we often pass on our tours! 

Single Houses

Probably the most recognizable style of house in Charleston is the single house, known for its distinctive “sideways” orientation and layers of piazzas. Typically one room wide on the side facing the street, the “front door” actually leads onto the piazza, in the middle of which you’ll find the house’s entrance. Inside, the street-facing room was typically an office, parlor, or other public space, while private family quarters were upstairs and toward the back of the lot. This system offered the best privacy, as well as helping to keep out the noise, dust, and scent of the city’s streets. The long, single-room-wide design helped fit more houses into the limited space of the peninsula, and also served to help regulate interior temperatures in the times before air conditioning. The single-room width permitted easier flow of cross-breezes, and the piazzas, always placed on the south or west sides of the houses, shaded the windows on those walls from receiving direct sun. The piazzas also offered open-air living spaces, ideal for hosting tea or summer sleeping quarters, so neighboring houses often staggered their windows on the facing wall for increased privacy. You’ll also frequently see piazza ceilings painted a distinctive pale shade of blue - you can learn more about this legendary “haint blue” and Charleston’s other paint colors here. 

Double Houses

While not as common as single houses, the double house can still be spotted around downtown Charleston. Unlike single houses, which are typically situated sideways on narrow, deep lots, the double house traditionally faces the street, and its main front door won’t always have a piazza. They get their name from typically being built two rooms wide on the street-facing side, with a central hallway and staircase. While this house style is not as common in Charleston for practical reasons - mostly the space constraints, but also the lack of privacy and the proximity to the street on a standard lot - an excellent example is the Aiken-Rhett House Museum, which you can tour here. 

Villa-Style Town House

The aforementioned styles of houses would typically have been built in more densely populated areas in town, on narrow lots meant to maximise land usage. As planters’ wealth and social prominence grew, there developed an increased demand for larger and finer town homes. Some of this trend may be attributed to Eliza Lucas Pinckney, whose experiments with indigo proved incredibly profitable, and who showcased her wealth in her beautifully appointed city home. By the late 18th century, wealthy planters were building larger houses within the city to host and entertain guests, borrowing architectural styles from Europe to show off their abundance of funds and cosmopolitan tastes. One of our favorites is the Miles Brewton House, which remains one of the most important examples of Georgian architecture in Charleston. It was inspired by the villas designed by Andrea Palladio outside Venice, Italy, in the 16th century, a style that was extremely popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries in western Europe.

Discover all these styles and more on one of our walking tours, where you can learn to read the city’s history in its architecture and listen to the historical gossip surrounding the remarkable people who called these houses - and the unique city of Charleston - home.