Historic Preservation

Tuesday, May 24th 

After a late night of waiting for the sardine to burn in Piazza de Ferrari we had a slow morning at the villa. After lunch we headed downtown on the Ascensore di Castelletto Levante, the public elevator that saved us from walking down and back up many flights of stairs during our time in Genoa.

We visited the Via Garibaldi to Palazzo Bianco, one of the museums that is part of the Strada Nuova Museums. Palazzo Bianco is a 16th century building in the historic city center that was once the home of an important Genoese family and today houses many pieces of art and artifacts from the city’s history. 

We strolled down to the port after going to the museums to have an “apertivo,” a pre-meal beverage and selection of food popular in Italian culture.

Next to the restaurant there was a food truck selling different types of pesto and pasta where many of us bought some souvenirs!

Professor Ford, Holly, and Emma Grace chose to take the Funicular back to the villa that night.

Friday, May 20th, Day 5

One of the most exciting parts about living in Genoa for two weeks is the amount of events and festivals the city throws that we get to attend! This week specifically, Genoa showcased their art world with their Design Week. We visited dozens of local galleries and exhibits ranging from furniture layouts to nautical displays where the concept of “space” was emphasized in every design. One gallery in particular hit home for us. Il Vicolo Galleria d’arte is owned by Ambra Guadenzi whose husband teaches at Clemson University’s School of Architecture here in Genoa. The gallery showcases art made by Emanuele Luzzati, a former resident of Castelleto near Clemson Architecture Foundation’s villa. All six of us were able to gather for lunch together where we continued to indulge in Italy’s fresh pasta, bread and gelato! Further exploring downtown Genoa, we stopped at a few shops to admire Italian fashion. We concluded our day with dinner cooked by our professor, Frances Ford, and fruit dessert prepared by Anna Gehring. As a fun bonus, we learned we absolutely love the whipped cream here! Italian food has yet to disappoint!

Saturday, May 21st, Day 6

Who knew coming to Italy that we’d get to experience other country’s culture traditions and festivals? Here in Genoa, on Saturday, May 21st, we had the opportunity to celebrate an annual festival dear to the town of Murcia, Spain. In fact, Murcia and Genoa are twin cities! Citizens from Murcia traveled over to their sister city to host the first international Burial of the Sardine, or Entierro de la Sardina. The people of Genoa and Murcia came together to throw a day of festivities, multiple of which we got to participate in. In the morning was the parade where over a million toys and pieces of jewelry were handed out to the children of Genoa, traditional Spanish and Italian cuisine was showcased in different piazzas throughout the day, and the night ended with the burning of a sardine sculpture and a beautiful fireworks display! Unfortunately, we were unable to attend the actual burning, although we tried! It happened to occur at 11:30 pm, and after a week of walking an average of 15-20k steps a day, we were too exhausted to stay out that late. Regardless, we were happy to celebrate all day long a fun festival alongside two countries! Bonus: we got to see fireworks from the terrace at our villa!

Wednesday May 18, 2022:
Today the group woke up to a bright sunny day in Genoa. The morning began with having a nice breakfast in the garden while enjoying cappuccinos and freshly made bread. Piazza Sant’Anna was first on the “to-do” list for the day.

Close to the Clemson villa, Piazza Sant’Anna is a square located in the quarter of Castelletto within Genoa. Sant’Anna includes intact structures dating back from the 1600s and the students got to visit two of these deeply rooted historic buildings. The first building visited in the square was the church of Sant’Anna (St. Anne), which is a typical Baroque style Genoa church. The second building visited in the piazza was Antica Framacia Sant’Anna that dates back to the mid-17th century. It was the old pharmacy for the convent located within the piazza.

Today ended with a delightful dinner made by one of our students with the help of some of her classmates. She prepared pasta with lettuce, olive oil, tomatoes, and spices, yum! Some of the pictures taken today by professor Frances Ford as well as the students can be found down below. We’re excited for what is to come in their adventures!

Thursday May 19, 2022:
Today was a fun-packed trip to Cinque Terre! This location includes five old villages on the Italian Riviera, which the group hit the ground running first thing this morning to catch the train. Each Italian Riviera village has its own unique style but all are stunning! Riomaggiore was the first of the five villages visited by train followed by Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and lastly Monterosso. While walking around these locations, the group explored churches, shops, scenic routes, and breathtaking views. Some of the pictures taken today by professor Frances Ford as well as the students can be found down below. Very exciting!

Our eighth day in Genoa began with a visit to the Monumental Cemetery of Staglieno, or Cimitero Monumentale di Staglieno. The extensive nineteenth-century cemetery contains elaborate funerary monuments and in some cases, entire buildings, dedicated to their respective families. After roaming, we ate lunch in Piazza San Lorenzo and visited the Metropolitan Cathedral of Saint Lawrence. The Cattedrale di San Lorenzo is not only monumental and an example of gothic architecture, the bomb fired by a British battleship into the cathedral in February of 1941 and did not explode can still be found in the cathedral. The group then split up for each student to study their own piazza for our assigned project. While on the way back to the villa, we were lucky enough to see a decorative painter at work on the outside of a building in Piazza Ferrari. While Professor Ford and some students took the usual route back to the villa, some students tested out their understanding of the bus system in the city.

On the last day of our first week in Genoa we took a field trip heading to Portofino with some stops along the way. We began by taking a train to Nervi where our first stop was the Wolfsoniana which is a museum that houses examples of Art Deco and Art Nouveau works.

When we finished at the museum we walked down to the Passeggiata Anita Garibaldi to take a break by the sea.

After a short while we made our way to Santa Margherita again by train where we began our beautiful trek to Portofino along the coastline.

Once we arrived in Portofino we made our way up to Chiesa Di San Giorgio to visit the church and get a good view of the city.

The last stop on our list was Castello Brown which has been used since Roman times for everything from defense of the port, a private residence, to a house museum. We quickly learned that the grounds were closed this week for a private event. So we decided to move on in search of some food.

As we perused the restaurants by the harbor, to our surprise, several celebrities marched past us on their way to the private event which we learned was Kourtney Kardashian’s wedding and reception. Pictured here are Machine Gun Kelly and Mark Hoppus from Blink 182 along with his wife Skye.

Deciding to start making our way back home, we took the bus back to Santa Margherita where we had dinner and dessert at Pizzeria Santa Lucia before catching the train home to Genoa.

This summer I was given the amazing opportunity to work with the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation in collaboration with Kevin and Laine Berry on putting their house, the James Caine Little House on the National Register of Historic Places. Significant under criterion “C” for its architecture, the Little House is a Gothic Revival house in Louisville, Georgia. The Little House is a rare example of Gothic Revival architecture of its size and massing in a residential structure in the town of Louisville and throughout the southeast United States. The Little House had a steeply pitched roof with three dormers across the front façade and barge board trim along every eve of the house. The house had a full facade front porch that wrapped around three-quarters of the house, typical of Gothic Revival houses from the late nineteenth century. In the interior, the massing consisted of a central hall passage with four rooms on the first and second floor with two additional ells added to the back of the house on the first floor. Mr. Little most likely added the ells during a renovation in the late nineteenth century.

During my time researching the house for the nomination, I was able to uncover several pieces of information that were not well known before. This information added to the understanding of the history of the house and property. My classes at Clemson and CofC’s Graduate Program in Historic Preservation prepared me to be successful in my research. Upon my investigation of the interior and close examination of some of the timber elements, evidence pointed to the fact that the house was older than the purchase date.  It was a long-held idea that Mr. Little built the house when he bought the property in 1875. However, the deed research I conducted proved otherwise. In the deed of conveyance from 1875 to Mr. Little,  I discovered that the house was most likely already built, along with other structures. This explains the much earlier Greek Revival interior of the house. My investigation also led me to focus on the southeast room. The interior of the room had beaded clapboard of different widths on all four walls. This was the only part of the house that had hand-hewn lumber in the sill and joist members. The interior investigation suggested that this particular room was indeed older than the rest of the house.

On the evening of July 20^th, I got a message from a member of the Jefferson County Historical Society. She told me that the house was struck by lightning and was on fire. The Little House suffered irreparable damage. The house’s Gothic Revival features and most of the structure was completely destroyed. This was devastating to the historic preservation community and to the town of Louisville, Georgia. The house was important because of its rare example of Gothic Revival features, but now it is gone. However, I kept good documentation of the house in photographs for the national register nomination. With this information, future generations will learn about the historic architecture of the nineteenth century in Louisville, Georgia. In addition to my photographs, I have a number of notes and files found during the course of my research. The destruction of the Little House serves as a reminder of why the preservation and documentation of historic structures is important. While it is disappointing that the Little House is now gone, the history of this house will live on in the archives and never be forgotten.

Lisa Gardiner – Class of 2021

They have completed their first year in the program! Now they are off to complete their summer internships.

• Kim Hlavin, American Vernacular and Solid Renovations, Charleston, SC
• Kate Howard, Preservation Maryland
• Rucha Kamath, Historic Charleston Foundation & Edgewood Builders (David Hoffman), Charleston SC
• Kyunhea Kwan, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, New York, NY
• Dana Marks, District of Columbia Regional Planning Office,
• Amy Mendelson, Drayton Hall, Charleston, SC
• Kerri Ross, City of Charleston Board of Architectural Review
• Sada Stewart, Historic Charleston Foundation
• Chris Tenny, Preservation Society of Charleston
• Kendra Waters, MacRostie and Associates, Charleston

On Friday May 11, 2018, twelve of our second years graduated with a Master of Science in Historic Preservation! The ceremony was held on College of Charleston’s campus at the Cistern and a reception was held at the Blacklock House. We had a wonderful celebrating their accomplishments with their family and friends.

Every year the program recognizes two outstanding students for their achievements. This year the Preservation Society of Charleston’s Best Thesis Award went to Lauren Lindsey for her work, “Fostering Community: Spatial Arrangements of Early Nineteenth Century Camp Meeting Grounds in South Carolina.

Sam Biggers received Historic Charleston Foundation’s Ann Pamela Cunningham Award for his hard work, sense of humor, and promise to contribute to our field.

Congratulations class of 2018!

Mary Fesak is the recipient of the 2018 SESAH Graduate Student Research Fellowship. The Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians makes this award annually to support thesis and dissertation research. Mary will use this award to support the fieldwork necessary to complete her thesis, a study of early-to-mid twentieth century equine landscapes in Aiken and Camden, South Carolina. Mary’s thesis will analyze the equine landscapes to understand how barns in these two “wintering colonies” reflected local vernacular building practices and design aesthetics. It will also offer insight into how the equine landscapes reflected class, gender, and racial hierarchies. These unique landscapes have been neglected by scholars and face development pressures as the racing industry continues to decline in South Carolina. The spaces inside the barns and the barnyards will be evaluated using diagrams of the functions of each space and the use of space by class, race, and gender. The study will also use sight-line analysis to determine owners’ prioritization of spaces and presentation of their race barns to the public and their peers.

Read more here: http://sesah.org/2018/02/02/2018-sesah-graduate-student-research-fellowship/

With their first year of graduate school behind them, our rising second year students have scattered across the globe to being summer internships. Check out the list below to see where all of our students are spending their summers:

• Matt Amis – Gulliver’s Timber Treatment, London, England
• Alix Barrett- MacRostie Historic Advisors, Chas, SC
• Nathan Betcher – NPS, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
• Sam Biggers – Clemson’s Warren Lasch Conservation Lab, Chas, SC
• Claire Bushemi – Dufford Young Architects, Chas, SC
• Andrea Cooper – Bennett Engineering, Chas, SC
• Mary Fesak – Historic Charleston Foundation, Chas, SC
• Kate Gallotta – Mt. Pleasant Planning Commission, Mt. Pleasant, SC
• Katie Martin – Edgewood Builders, Chas, SC
• Diana Inthavong- National Council for Preservation Education, Washington, DC
• Lauren Lindsay – LFA Architecture, Chas, SC
• Steve Lyle – Richard Marks Restoration, Chas, SC
• Torie McCollum – German Village Society, Columbus, OH
• Kristina Poston – SC State Historic Preservation Office, Columbia, SC

On Friday, May 12, 2017, eleven of our second year students graduated with Master of Science in Historic Preservation degrees! The students walked in the College of Charleston’s graduation ceremony, which takes place under the oaks in the heart of campus. We welcomed the students’ family and friends for a weekend full of celebrations beginning with an awards ceremony in the Spoleto Gardens.

Each year the program recognizes two outstanding students for their achievements.This year the Preservation Society of Charleston’s Best Thesis Award went to Benjamin Walker for his work, “Importing the Vernacular: An Analysis of the Panama Houses of the Former Charleston Navy Yard as an Adapted Regional Building Typology.”

Alena Franco received Historic Charleston Foundation’s Ann Pamela Cunningham Award for her strong will, sense of humor, and promise to contribute to our field.

We reconvened for a Saturday luncheon to toast the graduates one final time before they head off to jobs across the country. Congratulations again to our graduates! We can’t wait to watch your careers develop.

The College of Charleston Graduate School hosts an annual poster session as a platform for students to spread the word about completed or ongoing research projects. Five MSHP students presented on three different research topics this year. Meg Olson focused on her conservation work at 43 Legare Street, which was part of her summer internship with Richard Marks Restoration. Morgan Granger presented on her thesis topic, “An Investigation of Suspended Frame Vaulting Systems in Charleston.” Ben Walker, Jen Leeds, and Alena Franco are all students in an elective class titled Preservation Field Studies. In December the class traveled to Bermuda to study St. George’s, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and to document two of the contributing buildings, the Tucker House and Globe Hotel. Their poster provided an overview of the class and showcased their documentation work.

Students Morgan Granger and Meg Olson will be presenting a poster on their summer’s work on 43 Legare Street at the 6th International Architectural Paint Research Conference in March! The title of their work, “How paint research and analysis can aid in reconstructing missing decorative ornamentation: a case study at 43 Legare Street, Charleston, South Carolina.”

Abstract: The Charleston single house located at 43 Legare Street, the Charles Elliott House, commonly dated to 1759, was the subject of an extensive architectural investigation conducted in the summer of 2016. The investigation sought to determine original ornamentation and finishes of the main parlor of the first floor. Cross sectional analysis, careful paint removal, and research have revealed a number of interesting findings which indicate the house dates to the early 1770s. This poster explores the findings of graduate students, Morgan Granger and Meghan Olson, at this transitional Federal style house. All physical evidence was corroborated with research and compared to contemporary houses in Charleston to validate findings.
A thorough investigation of the mantle breast of the first floor east parlor was conducted to determine original finishes of the room. The paint analysis and removal of later woodwork, revealed many of the early decorative elements of the room, including the original size and forms of the lost mantle and its surround. Removal of later architectural elements revealed well preserved ghost marks, carpenter’s marks, and early faux finishes. The ghost marks left by the removal, and immediate covering, of the early mantle allowed for an accurate reconstruction, and indicated the precise location, of the lost mantle piece. The carpenter’s marks also aided in the reconstruction of the mantle and its surround.
Paint removal on the walls flanking the paneled over mantle unveiled further ghost marks of lost carved detailing. These marks were able to be traced by hand and in AutoCAD, and combined with research the ornamental woodwork was recreated. The two scrolls were preserved through the survival of an adhesive layer. The absence of paint layers in the area of the adhesive indicated that the missing woodwork was likely original to the decoration of the mantle breast. The other surviving woodwork, the paneled over mantle, rosettes, and broken pediment above the over mantle are all excellent examples of transitional Federal woodwork.
The faux finishes of the mantle breast are remarkable. There survives early marbling around the firebox opening, and layers of faux finishes on the broken pediment above the mantle. These finishes include a relatively early wood graining and a much later marbling. There is also a layer which appears to have a decorative speckled finish. These indicate that the house has been decorated to a high degree for its entire life. It has maintained its status as one of the great houses in Charleston as the many layers of paint and decorative finishes of the first floor east parlor indicate.

December 16, 2016

Today students worked together to finish up architectural investigative reports at the Tucker House and the Globe Hotel. They worked alongside adjunct professor Brent Fortenberry to complete architectural drawings of the roof and cellar at the Globe Hotel. The afternoon concluded with last minute souvenir shopping!

-Meg Olson, MSHP Class of 2017

December 15, 2016

On Thursday students spent the day continuing to investigate and record the Globe Hotel. Students completed their drawings of the building and continued to work on investigative reports. Students also began to record conditions of the building.

-Morgan Granger, Class of 2017

December 14, 2016

We started our day by adding details to our floor plan drawings of the Globe Hotel.  Later in the morning, we started working on our architectural investigations for the buildings.  These investigations of the building include an architectural description, as well as an assessment of the interior fabric, circulation of space, finishes, and conditions.  All of these contribute to the final document that will provide a more complete understanding of the building.

In the afternoon, we took a late lunch before attending the World Heritage Site Management Committee meeting.  The committee discussed new building projects that are emerging around St. George’s, and how these impact the World Heritage Site.  At the end of the meeting, we talked with the committee about the benefits of the work that we are doing here in Bermuda, and how it helps in developing St. George’s architectural history and approaches to preservation.

-Benjamin Walker, MSHP Class of 2017

December 13, 2016

Tuesday morning the group took on the documentation of the Globe Hotel. The Globe Hotel, built in 1699, was constructed by the Colony’s fifth governor, Samuel Day. It was supposedly built as an official residence belonging to the Crown  but Governor Day claimed it as his own.  In the mid-1800s it was converted to a hotel.  During the civil war it played a part of the blockade runners in St George’s.  The Bermuda Historical Monuments Trust acquired  the property in 1952 and it now serves as a house museum with exhibits on the American Civil War.

We took a small detour to see 7 Gables, a 18th century house in St. George’s. We explored the cellar to see the foundations and framing of the house. 7 Gables is a masonry house that encloses a frame structure. Back at the Globe Hotel,  students continued to work on the plan of the building, as Dr. Fortenberry and Ed Chappell worked on the cellar of 7 Gables.

-Alena Franco, MSHP Class of 2017

December 11, 2016

Instructors Brent Fortenberry and Ed Chappell spent Sunday in the Western Parishes documenting houses while the students took the opportunity to further explore the islands. Students traveled to the pristine beaches where they spent the day enjoying the lovely weather and photographing the landscape. Some students spent time exploring the capital city of Hamilton before returning to St George’s in the evening.

-Morgan Granger, MSHP Class of 2017

December 10, 2016

Today was a day for adventure as the group headed to Hamilton which is the capital city of Bermuda. After getting off the bus, we did a walking tour of the area admiring the local architecture. We visited City Hall that opened in 1960. It was designed by the well known Bermudian architect Wilfred Onions.  Inside the building is the Bermuda National Gallery. This is where Bermuda’s national collections of art are displayed.  Next we visited the Bermuda Anglican Cathedral which is primarily built from Bermudian limestone. Afterwards some of us
explored the local shops for souvenirs and tasted the delights of the local food.

-Alena Franco, MSHP Class of 2017

December 9, 2016

We began our day taking photographs of the exterior and interior of the Tucker house for photographic documentation, as well as for use in producing photogrammetric models.  Afterward, we finished our drawings of the floor plans before returning to the Block House for lunch.  When we returned to the Tucker house, we took vertical measurements in all of the rooms so that we have them recorded for documentation drawings that will later be produced in AutoCAD.  Once this was complete, we spent the remainder of the afternoon working on our individual architectural investigation reports for the house.

-Benjamin Walker, MSHP Class of 2017