4 South Battery was built in 1895 by Andrew Simmonds for his young wife, a New Orleans debutante who was given eight names at birth (but everyone just called her Daisy). Andrew, the president of First National Bank in Charleston, constructed this South Battery mansion on the site of an earlier house. As you can see from the photograph, we are not talking an "intimate little cottage."

In the style of a grand Italian villa with its four massive fluted columns on the portico, 4 South Battery is almost 8,200 square feet and overlooks White Point Gardens at the tip of the Charleston peninsula. In 1895, there was even a cupola and a balustrade around the roof. The house was built for entertaining, and Daisy reveled in her role as a celebrated hostess in Charleston and beyond.

The Simonds had one child, Margaret, who was five when her father died after a long illness. Andrew Simonds was in debt at his death, and an indomitable Daisy turned 4 South Battery into a boutique hotel, which she named Villa Margherita. Villa Margherita hosted dignitaries, politicians, and other VIPs, including both President Roosevelts, Alexander Graham Bell, and Henry Ford. In keeping with Charleston's literary heritage, the manuscript for Main Street was completed by Sinclair Lewis while he was a guest at the Villa.

When Daisy married again and moved north, she leased the Villa Margherita to a Charleston lady, Liese Dawson, who ran the hotel for approximately forty years. In 1954, the Villa Margherita became a home again when Margaret Simonds, all grown up now, moved into the house with her Charleston husband Charles Waring. The house was sold in 1961 to Dr. James Wilson and his five; they had one child, Mary B. Wilson. After Dr. Wilson's death, Mary B. and her mother lived in only one part of the house. 4 South Battery is high maintenance and, I'm sure, expensive to keep up. At the time, Mary B. was caring for her elderly mother, and I doubt she had the time or the energy to see to the upkeep of the house. In any event, the house fell further into dilapidation, crumbling before us.

Several years after Mrs. Wilson's death, Mary B. sold 4 South Battery for $3,000,000. She certainly sold it to the right party, because the purchasers were a family with small children. Today, they live in Charleston full-time and have lovingly restored this house to its former glory. I look at 4 South Battery and am grateful that the laughter, energy, and creativity of a young family fill this home once again.

Next week, we will turn the corner onto East Battery and visit another grand house there.