Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons^™

Fifty Shades Of Beige: Comparative Paint Analysis Of Three Charleston Parlors, Alison Page Dunleavy

All Theses

This research diachronically examines color in three parlors in Charleston, South Carolina: 35 Legare Street (ca. 1790); 18 Bull Street (ca.1800); and 61-63 Smith Street (ca. 1823-24) in order to determine the impact of wealth on pigment and binder selection. Cross-sectional analysis of interior finishes reveals the layers of paint on architectural elements, which identifies the evolution of color in an interior space. With additional types of analysis such as fluorochrome staining and scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), the samples also provide insight into the evolution of pigments and binders. Interpretation of the findings results in an …

Building Information Modeling (Bim): The Untapped Potential For Preservation Documentation And Management, Laura Lee Worrell

All Theses

The preservation field has few software programs specifically created to store historic and management documentation. Some programs and techniques are utilized in combination to aid in the management and documentation process of historic resources that include, laser scanning, AutoDesk AutoCAD programs, Rhino 3D, photogrammetry, geographic information system, and even Microsoft Excel. This thesis examines the applicability of the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry's Building Information Modeling (BIM) to create a three dimensional user interface for tracking and storing historic and management documentation. The case study performed for this thesis employs the Nathaniel Russell House owned by the Historic Charleston …

The Structural And Material Evolution Of Molana Abbey, Ballynatray Demesne, County Waterford, Ireland, Site Wa037-011: A Mortar Composition Study, Claire Alice Achtyl

All Theses

Molana Abbey, a ruin located in Ballynatray Demesne, County Waterford, Ireland, has religious roots in the sixth century but much of the structure dates to the eleventh-century. Molana became an important center of religion and education in southern Ireland. After Henry VIII dissolved Irish monasteries in 1546, the former abbey became a part of the land holdings of Sir Walter Raleigh. The abbey was then converted from a religious to a residential structure occupied briefly by English polymath Thomas Harriot. The structure fell into disrepair until the nineteenth-century when Grice Smyth, a new owner, transformed the ruin into a garden …

The Forgotten Stone: A History And Analysis Of Bermuda Stone In Charleston, South Carolina, Justin M. Schwebler

All Theses

Throughout the historic streets of Charleston, South Carolina there is a forgotten and overlooked stone. It is in the narrow gaps between houses, along carriageway walls, underfoot on garden paths, and in foundations of many historic buildings. The forgotten stone of Charleston is Bermuda stone. This thesis provides the history of Bermuda stone in Charleston, South Carolina. This history was written answering the following research questions. How and why was Bermuda stone imported to Charleston? Who were the people bringing Bermuda stone to Charleston and who were the people using it as a building material? When was the period of …

Lowcountry Ghost Signs: A Study And Preservation Of Historic Signage In The South Carolina Lowcountry, James Wilson Smith

All Theses

Outdoor advertisements have enlivened America's commercial landscape since the seventeenth century. Hand-painted advertisements applied to the sides of buildings, from barns in rural settings to stores in the nation's towns and cities, were once ubiquitous but have, as both message and medium have evolved, generally fallen out of everyday use. Once common, hand-painted wall signs have faded from America's commercial landscape and have become objects of nostalgia more than a method of merchandising.

One Land, Two American Dreams: Rediscovering The Secondary Dupont Narrative At James Madison's Montpelier, Sarah A. Sanders

All Theses

Secondary narratives are most easily defined as narratives deemed non-essential to the primary interpretation goals of a historic site. Given the established significance criteria in the United States, secondary narratives are currently undervalued and are challenging to address. James Madison's Montpelier in Orange County, Virginia serves as an ideal lens through which to explore this challenge, given that the estate clearly embodies more than one period of significance.

In 1901 William duPont Sr. of the illustrious Delaware duPont family purchased a large area of land just outside of the small rural town of Orange ,Virginia. Located over two hundred miles …

The Challenge Of Balance: A Study Of The Recent History Of The Board Of Architecture Review And Its Design Standards On The Calhoun Street Corridor In Charleston, South Carolina, Taylor Johnston

All Theses

Applauded as the United States’ first city to create a historic preservation ordinance, Charleston, South Carolina boasts a strong tradition in architectural protection. Presiding over this process of design review and its connected provisions, the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) evaluates any new construction, additions, and changes to any property visible in the public-right-of-way that falls within the historic district. According to the zoning ordinance, this governing body protects and preserves “the old historic or architecturally worthy structures and quaint neighborhoods which impart a distinct aspect of the city and which serve as visible reminders of the historical and cultural …

The Progressive Club: Johns Island, South Carolina, Historic Preservation With Clemson University And College Of Charleston

Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation - Research Reports

The Graduate Program in Historic Preservation with Clemson University/College of Charleston has spent one month researching and documenting the Progressive Club on Johns Island, South Carolina.

We spent time researching the history of the Progressive Club so that we had a bet- ter understanding of the structure we would be studying and documenting. Our first day on site, the class divided into small teams, each focusing at a different section of the building and working on measured drawings. All interior and exterior walls have been measured to 1/8 inch per the Historic American Buildings Survey standards. The field drawings and …

Detroit's Theaters: A Study Of Significance And Reuse, Leigh Schoberth

All Theses

Detroit is frequently a case study for contemporary urban and economic issues. A specific component of Detroit's built fabric that requires preservation attention in light of the city's struggles is the undervalued theater district. Several of the theaters in the central district of Detroit are now threatened by demolition after years of neglect. The history and significance of the theaters, as well as careful consideration of the range of acceptable preservation treatment options, stand to inform a preservation plan for these and other cities' theaters. One of the options is the reuse of the theaters. While the large scale of …

The Mills Bill: An Economic Impact Study Of The North Carolina State Historic Mill Rehabilitation Tax Credit, Erin Elizabeth Morton

All Theses

The textile, tobacco, and furniture industries in North Carolina suffered a significant loss of revenue and jobs in the 1990s. As production migrated to cheaper locations overseas, communities throughout the state faced the collateral challenge of finding new uses for hundreds of large, empty mill buildings. To encourage redevelopment of the state's vacant mills, North Carolina's legislature created a tax credit program that targeted mills and other similar industrial properties. This thesis quantifies the economic successes of the state's mill rehabilitation tax credit. Building on equations and assumptions from Becky Holton's 2008 IMPLAN software model, this economic impact study uses …

The Crosstown: Physical Effects Of The Expansion Of Highway 17 Across The Charleston Peninsula, Melissa Mann Roach

All Theses

Completed in 1967, the Septima P. Clark Parkway is a prominent thoroughfare of peninsular Charleston, South Carolina. Locally known as the Crosstown, the road is officially part of Highway 17 and was conceived in the late 1950s to connect the state highway with Interstate 26. The roadway's route sliced through the middle of working class Charleston neighborhoods . City Council journals and minutes and South Carolina Department of Transportation (SCDOT) survey photographs reveal the character of the neighborhoods adjacent to the Crosstown. These micro-communities and their architectural fabric, disrupted by the acquisition of the right-of way and subsequent road construction, …

Spectrum Of The Spirit: Interpreting The Material Connotations Of Ecclesiastical Stained Glass In Charleston, South Carolina, Valerie J. Mccluskey

All Theses

The City of Charleston is known colloquially as 'The Holy City,' and many of its holy structures display stained glass windows. Long admired for their aesthetic qualities, these stained glass windows are under-examined examples of the city's material culture. A careful reading of these windows has uncovered information about the artifacts themselves and the cultural, religious, and geographic identities of the societies who created and commissioned these windows. This thesis examines how ethnography, religion, and geography influenced the artistic styles and iconography of the stained glass windows of Charleston's ecclesiastical structures and mausoleums. The stained glass windows of Peninsular Charleston …

The Leconte Lodge: A Lens For The Evolution And Development Of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Lindsay D. Lanois

All Theses

Officially established in 1934, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park originated as part of a widespread cultural trend towards outdoor recreation, national tourism, and the federal government's assumption of responsibility for land conservation. However, the area of Tennessee and North Carolina selected by the federal government for the national park was not a purely unsettled landscape. Not only did the land serve as home to approximately ten permanent agricultural communities, but it also featured several hotels and lodges inspired by the burgeoning twentieth-century tourism industry. Beginning as a rudimentary hiking cabin constructed in 1925 and evolving throughout the 1930s, the …

The Evolution Of The Kentucky Main Street Program; Its Beginning, Expansion And Renaissance, E Megan Funk

All Theses

This study examines the organizational structure of the Kentucky Main Street Program (KYMS), the Nation's first statewide Main Street program, and its impact on Kentucky's Main Street communities. Since its inception, KYMS has modified its program in response to changes in Kentucky's economic situation and communities' needs. These changes include expanding the program to smaller communities, adjusting the provision of technical services, and offering grants for manager's salaries and projects. KYMS and National Main Street Center (NMSC) evaluations have focused on performance during one- or two-year program cycles. Changes in structure and availability of services, however, have not been compared …

Three Hoes In The Kitchen: The Conceptualization Of Peachtree Plantation, St. James Santee Parish, South Carolina, Kendanne M. Altizer

All Theses

Historical background research, precedent case studies, and archaeology are used to determine architectural antecedents, floor plan, and room uses of Peachtree Plantation. Peachtree is the ruin of a two-story dwelling once owned by the Lynch family, prominent Lowcountry rice planters and politicians. Thomas Lynch, Jr. was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The house was built between 1760 and 1762 on the South Santee River in St. James Santee Parish, South Carolina. It burned in 1840 and was never reconstructed; what remains today is a ruin of partial walls and rubble.

This thesis uses a multi-disciplinary approach to explore …

The Colonist's Concrete: A Preservation Plan For The Seventeenth-Century Tabby Floor Found At The Miller Archaeological Site, Lindsay A. Lee

All Theses

In 2009, a seventeenth-century floor was discovered at the Miller Archaeological Site at Charles Towne Landing. Unearthed but covered with plastic sheeting since then, the floor is a remnant of Charleston’s first English settlement. Labeled on site as tabby, the material is typically comprised of oyster shells, sand, lime, and water. The lack of whole shell in the floor’s material suggests a role in the broader pattern of augmented earthen flooring deriving from the Caribbean, and in turn, Africa and Europe. Deteriorating at an unknown rate since its discovery, it is the hope of South Carolina State Parks to employ …

A Forgotten Castle: Archer And Anna Huntington's Winter Residence Atalaya In Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, Kelly Morgan Herrick

All Theses

This thesis examines Atalaya, the winter residence Archer and Anna Huntington, New York artists and philanthropists, built at Murrells Inlet, South Carolina in 1934. Atalaya is an architecturally unique Spanish Revival residence that resists categorization. However, scholarly writing about the Huntingtons overlooks Atalaya and considers it a mere backdrop for the couple's lives and accomplishments. By compiling an accurate account of Atalaya's construction, this thesis investigates whether Atalaya's significance comes from its design or from Anna Hyatt Huntington's prominence as a sculptor. This thesis makes use of newspapers, Anna Huntington's personal diaries, and papers from the Huntingtons' estate. From these …

A Study Of The Aiken-Rhett Stew Stove, Julia Anne Tew

All Theses

The stew stove found in the kitchen of the Aiken-Rhett House in Charleston, South Carolina is a rare and well-preserved example of antebellum stew stove technology. This masonry stove was installed in the main kitchen of Governor William Aiken in 1858 and contains six cast iron stew holes and a set kettle. Masonry cook stoves appeared in the United States as early as the mid-eighteenth century. Stoves like this were not an American invention. A French device known as the potager is the predecessor and inspiration for such devices. This potager eased the cook's labors in preparing meals and offered …

Creating Tradition: Change Ringing And The Myth Of The 'Holy City', Charlotte Hewitt Causey

All Theses

This thesis analyzes the recent creation of tradition surrounding church bells and bell towers in Charleston, South Carolina. Church bells have been a significant feature of Charleston’s aural landscape since the mid-eighteenth century when St. Michael’s hung a ring of bells in the tower that still dominates the intersection of Meeting and Broad Streets. The histories of four churches, St. Michael’s (1751), the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul (1811), St, Matthew’s Lutheran (1867), and Grace Episcopal (1846) affirms the important role that bells played for these congregations. The bells installed in these churches and the uses to which …

Neighborhoood Snapshot Inventories: A Study Of The Cooper River Bridge Tax Incremnent Financing District, Rebecca Anne Quandt

All Theses

Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is one of the most widely used economic development tools in the nation. In 2008, Charleston, South Carolina, designated the Cooper River Bridge neighborhood (CRBN) as its fourth TIF district. The planning process is now underway, and many large redevelopment projects have already started construction. Private investors will receive funding to develop vacant lots and revitalize dilapidated properties, and the City will benefit economically from new property taxes added to the revenue roll. City officials have anticipated the economic change this TIF district will provide, but have they properly anticipated the changes that will occur to …

The Urban Environment As A Barrier To Historic Preservation: A Mitigation Plan For Falmouth, Jamaica, Daniel Heinz Watts

All Theses

The principle question asked in this thesis is can widespread historic preservation occur in Falmouth, Jamaica without improvements to the town's urban environment? The question will be answered by researching the condition of Falmouth's historic district in light of its history, economic decline and current challenges. Background analysis revealed that the town has been economically stagnant for more than a century, that this weakness has incidentally allowed it to retain the largest collection of Georgian-era structures in the Caribbean, but has also led to a continuing decline in the condition of historic resources faster than preservation efforts can provide remediation. …

Noiseless, Automatic Service: The History Of Domestic Servant Call Bell Systems In Charleston, South Carolina, 1740-1900, Wendy Danielle Madill

All Theses

Shortly before Europe's industrial revolution, tradesmen discovered an ingenious way to rig bells in houses to mechanize communication between homeowners and their servants. Mechanical bell systems, now known as house bells or servant call bells, were prevalent in Britain and America from the late 1700s to the early twentieth century. These technological ancestors of today's telephone were operated by the simple pull of a knob or a tug of a tassel mounted on an interior wall. Bell-pulls increased privacy for both servants and their employers by separating both parties by the length of a bell wire, but they also increased …

The United Order Of Tents And 73 Cannon Street: A Study Of Identity And Place, Mary Margaret Schley

All Theses

One hundred years ago, a group of African-American women assembled in Charleston, South Carolina under the name of the United Order of Tents of J.R. Giddings and Jollifee Union. The only organization of its kind, the United Order of Tents is a secret society comprised and operated solely by African-American women. The Order traces its roots back to the operations of the Underground Railroad in Norfolk, Virginia. The founder of the organization, Annetta M. Lane, assisted slaves during their escape from the South through their journey on the Railroad. After emancipation, Annetta Lane and United Order of Tents co-founder, Harriett …

Adaptive Use Potential Of Kitchen And Carriage Houses Toward Smart Growth Goals In Charleston, South Carolina, Elizabeth A. Shaw

All Theses

Growth and historic preservation are typically framed as being mutually exclusive. Since growth is inevitable, it behooves cities and towns to focus on growth that collaborates with preservation. This can successfully be achieved by creating plans that use existing infrastructure, promote mixed-use neighborhoods, and encourage sustainable building efforts. In Charleston, the main dwelling of an individual lot was often accompanied by separate outbuildings such as carriage houses, kitchen houses, privies, and laundry buildings. Many of these out buildings remain, and provide an opportunity to create sustainable smart growth and sensitive density.
This thesis analyzes the way property owners in two …

The Charleston Trussed Roof: A Study Of The Development And Implementation Of A Structural Solution From 1740-1820, Pamela Marotta Kendrick

All Theses

Charleston, South Carolina is renowned for the impressive churches, civic buildings, and mansions which line its historic streets. Although scholars have studied many of these famous structures in depth, the roof framing methods used to construct these large buildings has rarely been studied or documented. Where documentation exists it is rudimentary at best, often only identifying the overall form of the roof or the material used for the roof covering. The truss roof system was designed to accommodate buildings with a spans greater than twenty five feet wide. The implementation of these truss roof designs enabled the construction of Charleston …

Quantifying Visitor Impact And Material Degradation At George Washington's Mount Vernon, Laurel Lynne Bartlett

All Theses

Over one million visitors per year traverse the visitor path through George Washington's home at Mount Vernon. Increased visitation has tested the limits of the architectural materials and created the single most threatening source of degradation. While the history of Mount Vernon is dotted with attempts to mitigate damage caused by visitors, scientific analysis of the dynamic impacts to the historic fabric is needed to preserve the integrity of the preeminent national house museum. The following thesis presents a holistic analysis of visitor impact and material degradation occurring at Mount Vernon.
Visitor impact issues are acknowledged at historic sites around …

The Financial Impact Of Historic Preservation Easements On Encumbered Property Appreciation Rates In Charleston, Sc, Julianne W. Johnson

All Theses

As a response to recent legal pressures directed at donors of historic preservation easements, this research examines the often ignored, potential long-term financial impacts of easement and covenant encumbrances on residential properties in the Old and Historic District in Charleston, South Carolina. To address the concerns and questions emanating from both preservation and economic viewpoints an unbiased, empirical study analyzing the long-term financial implications an easement encumbrance has on real estate property values is necessary. The annual appreciation rates of all single-family residences in Charleston's Old and Historic District were compared to answer the question: Is there a long-term financial …

The Stonecutters And Tomb Builders Of Lafayette Cemetery No.1, New Orleans, Louisiana, Emily Anne Ford

All Theses

This thesis explores the building history of Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, established 1833. The historic cemetery, located in what is now the Garden District of New Orleans, Louisiana, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, but has continued to experience preservation issues concerning its traditional above-ground tombs and other landscape features.
By investigating the building methods and background of the historic craftsmen who helped develop Lafayette No. 1, the cemetery will be better understood and, thus, better preserved. A combination of structural surveys and archival research, this thesis constructs a dimensional portrait not only of specific …

The Best Brick House In All The Country: Documenting The Structural Evolution Of Medway, Mount Holly, South Carolina, Neale Canter Nickels

All Theses

This thesis represents the assembly of physical architectural analysis, archival investigation, and the study of the work of previous historians on the subject of the main house at Medway Plantation. Medway is a property whose origins can be traced back to the seventeenth century. Since then, it has changed form many times. A great amount of research has been conducted on Medway by historians, both amateur and professional. Few, however, if any have ever been able to study Medway with the stucco removed from the exterior and walls and floors exposed on the inside.
This was the impetus for researching …

Remembering The Legacy Of Coastal Defense: How An Understanding Of The Development Of Fort Moultrie Military Reservation, Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, Can Facilitate Its Future Preservation, Karl Philip Sondermann

All Theses

This thesis examines the landscape evolution of the one hundred and twenty year history of Fort Moultrie Military Reservation (FMMR), Sullivan's Island, South Carolina, one of the United States' Twentieth Century coastal defense installations. During the first half of the century, these technologically advanced fortifications protected the country's coasts as the nation emerged as a world power. When World War II's technological advances made these installations' obsolete, most were quickly converted into new military or government operated public uses. The remainder, including FMMR, was sold after the war to the public, before the limited protections of the National Historic Preservation …