We're going back down Meeting Street to visit 60 Meeting, a three-story, pre-Revolutionary house that is still a single-family residence. Fortunately, we have an easy way to determine what 60 Meeting originally looked like. Simply look at the pink house on the Tradd Street side of 60 Meeting, and you'll see what the house looked like when it was first constructed. I frequently point out this difference between the two structures on my walking tours, as it helps people understand how drastically a façade can change depending on the style.

William Ellis, a merchant in Charles Town, built a double tenement in the 1740s; the western tenement is 60 Meeting on the corner of Meeting and Tradd Streets. The architectural transformation occurred when Bertram Kramer purchased and renovated the house in the 1890s. Kramer was a general contractor and may well have overseen the renovations himself.

Kramer completely redesigned the front and sides of the house in high Victorian style, adding various decorative elements, a fourth story with a mansard roof and a turret or tower on the center front with dormers on either side. Notice in the photograph that the exterior window treatments on the first floor façade (and all floors on the Tradd Street side) are carved to look like drapery.

Kramer also added a rooftop garden to the north, a feature that still exists. For over one hundred years, families at 60 Meeting and their guests have enjoyed an amazing rooftop view of Charleston. The house is spacious with over 6,000 square feet, six bedrooms and six bathrooms, and the good news is that 60 Meeting is for sale! You can purchase it for a little over $3 million!

One of my favorite things about this house (and I hope the new owner continues it) is the way it's decorated in different seasons. The present owner has a sense of humor and highlights the turret as the showcase decoration. Sometimes at Christmas, the turret is covered with a Santa hat! For the Halloween season, you may find the turret has been transformed into a giant black witch hat with full-size skeletons draped across the front wrought-iron balconies. Regardless of the season, the façade of 60 Meeting definitely makes a statement.

Join me next week to explore more Charleston history through her structures.