History Of The Nathaniel Russell House

Nathaniel Russell (1738-1820) was a native of Rhode Island. He moved to Charleston in 1765, where he became a shipping merchant and slave trader. At age fifty, he married Sarah Hopton (1752-1832), daughter of a wealthy Charleston family. Their daughters, Alicia and Sarah, were born in 1789 and 1792.

By now one of Charleston’s most prosperous men, Russell built his extravagant home as a means to display his wealth and position. Construction began in 1803, and was completed in 1808, at a total cost of $80,000 — extraordinary for the time.

The Russell family moved into their new home that year (Nathaniel was then 70 years of age), together with 18 of the people they enslaved (the enslaved people’s cramped quarters, located to the rear of the house, are the subject of current archaeological research, which has already yielded numerous artifacts).

After Russell’s death in 1820, the house remained in the family. His youngest daughter, Sarah, was the last family member to inhabit the house, living there until the 1850s.

In 1857, Robert Alston, rice planter and South Carolina governor (1856-1858) bought the house. Alston died in 1864, and in 1870 the executors of his estate sold the house to the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy. They used the house as a school building until 1905, after which it was converted back into a private residence.

In 1955 the historic garden was threatened with subdivision. To preserve the house, the Historic Charleston Foundation was formed, quickly raising the $65,000 purchase price of the property. The Foundation bought the house, opening it for public tours not long after. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973.

In 1995, the Historic Charleston Foundation undertook a comprehensive restoration of the house, aiming to return its interior details and finishes to their original appearance. Furnishings, many of them manufactured in Charleston, have been acquired to further aid in restoring the house to its appearance when it was built and inhabited by the Russell family.

Things To See At The Nathaniel Russell House

House Tours & Interpretation

Tours of the Nathaniel Russell House take around 30-40 minutes (due to the current pandemic, guided tours have been replaced with a self-guided audio tour taking approximately 45 minutes), visiting the first and second floors of the house. Tours discuss the history and architecture of the house and the lives of the people who lived there.

The tour also includes information about the ongoing restoration of the property, and the processes that go into selecting materials and replicating the original details and finishes in the house. Although the furnishings are not original to the property, they are typical of the period, with many pieces produced in the Charleston area.

Tours formerly focused on the mansion itself, with its outbuildings – kitchen, laundry, carriage house, work yard and living quarters used primarily by enslaved people – used as offices and storage areas.

Current archaeological work at the Nathaniel Russell House aims to uncover the stories of the enslaved people who worked at the house prior to the Civil War, with new findings incorporated into the property’s interpretation. An exhibit in the kitchen house explores the stories of the people who lived and worked there, and displays some of the archaeological artifacts they left behind.

Architecture

The Nathaniel Russell House was built in the Adam style, a light and delicate variant of the Federal style popularized by Robert, James and John Adam.

The house, designed by an unknown architect, has three stories with a 3-bay, symmetrical facade, taller than it is wide. The predominant building material was Carolina gray brick, accentuated with arches of crimson Windor brick, also known as cutting brick for its ability to withstand very precise cutting and shaping.

These bright brick arches were a popular feature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, intended to alleviate an otherwise-monotonous facade. Other distinctive features of the Nathaniel Russell House include marble window lintels, a paneled balustrade, floor-length windows on the second story, and a wrought-iron balcony displaying Russell’s initials.

The interior layout of the house was designed to convey a sense of movement, with curved walls in the central rooms (a popular component of the Adam style) and a free-standing staircase rising to its third story.

Each floor comprises three principal rooms: an oval-shaped room in the center of the house, a rectangular room at the front, and a square room at the back. More public activities were generally undertaken in the front rooms of the house, with the family’s more private rooms at the rear.

On the first floor are the entrance hall and an office Russell used for business, an oval dining room, and a parlor used for dining when the family did not have guests.

On the second floor is an oval drawing room, a rectangular withdrawing room at the front of the house, and a bedroom. On the third floor are additional bedrooms.

Garden & Grounds

Nathaniel Russell had a large, geometically-arranged garden in the English style constructed on the south side of his house, separated from the street by a brick wall and wrought iron fence. The formal garden, with shrubs, flower plantings and citrus trees, can still be seen, planted out with ornamental species in popular use in the 19th century.

To the rear of the house are the enslaved people’s quarters and work spaces, currently under development as additional interpretive spaces intended to tell the full story of the Nathaniel Russell House and its inhabitants.

Visitor Info

For additional information, call 843-724-8481 or visit the official website.

Hours

Open daily, 10am-5pm. Arrive by 4:15pm to allow enough time to complete the self-guided tour. During the pandemic period, groups must be of four or fewer, and tickets must be purchased in advance.

Admission

Adults $12, children (6-16) $5, young children (0-5) free.

Combination tickets offering admission to both the Nathaniel Russell House and the Historic Charleston Foundation’s other house museum, the Aiken-Rhett House, are also available: adults $18, children (6-16) $10.

Location

51 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401 (see on map)

The Nathaniel Russell House is located downtown, in Charleston’s South of Broad District. The nearest bus stops are on Broad Street, with the city’s free DASH shuttle and other paid bus services available within a few blocks’ walk.