1 Broad Street
by Dale Powell
Title
1 Broad Street
Artist
Dale Powell
Medium
Photograph
Description
1 Broad St. c. 1853
Broad Street was just that, the broadest street in Charles Town. The street was 61 feet wide at the intersection of East Bay and 100 feet wide between St. Michael's Church and the Beef Market (which stood on the site of City Hall) . Records during the period, 1698 to 1714, interchangeably refer to Broad Street and Cooper Street, presumably for Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper .
("Streets of Charleston," Ichonography, 1788)
1 Broad St. c.1853
-- Bankers Trust of South Carolina is housed in a three story, ltalian Renaissance Revival style building faced with Connecticut brownstone, built in 1853. The building was designed by the Charleston architectural firm, Jones & Lee (Edward C. Jones and Francis D. Lee) who planned many local buildings and worked elsewhere in South Carolina. Jones had his office in this building in January, 1857. The building was constructed for the State Bank of South Carolina and cost an estimated $100,000 to build. Due to the Federal bombardment of the city, 1863-65, the State Bank moved up the peninsula to Cannon Street. The building at 1 Broad St. was wrecked by the shelling, and the State Bank collapsed along with the Confederacy. The building was rehabilitated and ehlarged in 1868. For a time it was owned by George A Trenholm, cotton broker, former Treasurer of the Confederacy and blockade runner. When the Federal government sued Trenholm and his associates after the war for import duties on the illegal blockade goods, his company went bankrupt. He reorganized his cotton brokerage business and remade his fortune, however. In 1875, the building was purchased by another local merchant and blockade runner, George Walton Williams, who founded the Carolina Savings Bank here in 1875. During the late 19th century, the bank was located on the first floor, the office and exchange of Southern Bell on the second floor, and the local office of the U.S. Weather Bureau on the third floor. The Carolina Savings Bank merged with First National Bank in 1957 and moved from 1 Broad. The building again became a bank in 1963 when it was bought by the Carolina Bank and Trust Company for its main office. Bankers Trust of South Carolina took over Carolina Bank in 1969 and 1 Broad became the main Charleston office of Bankers Trust. In 1978-80, Bankers Trust completed renovation of the building, restoring the exterior as well as the interior with its elaborate 19th century plaster work and ceiling painting. During the renovation, a cannonball hole was found in one of the pine ceiling beams. Cannonballs have also been found in the basement from time to time. Notable architectural features of the exterior include the lion head keystones on the first floor, each of which is different. The Italian Renaissance Revival style is based on the ''palazzos'' of 15th and 16th century ltaly.
(Stockton, DYKYC, June 25, 1979.; Charleston Daily Courier, March 7, 1853; Bergeron, passim; Stoney, This is Charleston, p. 10; Ravenel, Architects, p. 212, 214; Mazyck & Waddell, illus. p. 59; Simms, "Charleston, The Palmetto City"; Severens, "Architectural Taste", p. 6; Green, unpub. notes, HCF)
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May 15th, 2017
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