This week we visit 61 Meeting Street, formerly the 1750’s stable for 59 Meeting Street. Most people would have no idea this house ever housed horses and hay. If you’re ever in town during the annual private homes and gardens tours, check to see if 61 Meeting on tour; if so, make certain you visit this Charleston treasure.

The house is filled with light, partly due to the six windows across the front on the ground floor. Each window is set high because the horse stalls were below; the horses entered the stable through the arch which now surrounds the front door, fanlight and sidelights. The current owners have created an open and modern kitchen with windows on the back side of the house overlooking the patio. My favorite room is the library which is filled with antique books, and there is even a grand piano in the transition area between living room, library and kitchen.

The stable was first converted into a private residence around 1915 when it became home to Judge Waites Waring and his bride, Annie Gammell. Judge Waring was born in 1880 into an old Charleston family; his father was a Confederate soldier. Waring graduated from the College of Charleston but the family was too poor to afford his law school tuition; Waring studied the law on his own, and after two years he passed the bar and began to practice law. In 1942 Waring was appointed a judge in the United States District Court.

One year later Waring met Elizabeth Hoffman; they fell in love, divorced their spouses, married each other in 1945 and continued to live at 61 Meeting. Their divorces and subsequent marriage created a Charleston scandal of the highest order, further inflamed by the fact that Elizabeth was from the North. The couple was ostracized by Charleston society. 

However, I believe it was primarily Elizabeth and her influence that encouraged Waring in his quest for racial equality. Waring is remembered and now honored as a just, fair and courageous judge, especially in the area of civil rights. 61 Meeting is a house that will always be associated with Waring’s legacy.

Next week, we continue exploring Charleston through her structures.