There was a time when living in Charleston meant hanging your hat somewhere on the Peninsula. Somewhere in between the world wars, all that started to change. Mind you, Charleston is and always will be largely defined by the geographic boundaries of the Peninsula and the charming old houses that exist in the prestigious neighborhood referred to as Below (meaning south of) Broad (Street). Living in one of those grand old houses will always be part of the quintessential Charleston lifestyle. Earthquakes, storms, fires, and wars have worked their woes and done their best to alter that reality, but an address Below Broad will always be a prestigious one in Charleston.
Meanwhile, it’s also true that thousands upon thousands of other certified Charlestonians are thriving in other neighborhoods—living full, complete, happy, and productive lives.
We’ll start this description of Charleston’s neighborhoods with some of the spectacular statistics surrounding real estate Below Broad. This includes the soaring values that have been asked and paid there since Charleston encountered tourism and the nation’s growing fascination with historic preservation.
Overview
For better or worse, there’s apparently a steady national market for Below Broad property and the prestige of owning it. Even with the housing market slow down, several dozen Below Broad properties sold for over $1 million. An out-of-town buyer paid $7.37 million as the record price (so far) for residential property on the Charleston Peninsula.
Despite this kind of transaction, properties Below Broad are selling in the $625,000 to $3.5 million price range. Thanks to the efforts of preservation-minded groups, institutions, and individuals, there are several other historic neighborhoods on the Peninsula where residential properties are a little more affordable.
According to the Charleston Trident Association of Realtors (Multiple Listing Service), the average selling price of a single-family residential house on the Peninsula through the third quarter of 2010 (including new and previously owned homes) averaged $1,039,016.
Naturally, real estate prices fluctuate greatly in different areas. And in a market as attractive as Greater Charleston, some homes and condominiums sell quickly and never make it to the Multiple Listing Service. But wherever real estate sales are a matter of public record, we’ve based our information on neighborhood home values on real numbers. Of course, this chapter is only a sampling of what is available, and the prices mentioned are approximate indicators of the current values. Ask a real estate professional for more complete guidance.
Although the historic area south of Broad Street is considered the quintessential Charlestonian neighborhood, several other locales north of Broad (between Broad and Calhoun Streets are now looked at very favorably, too. The French Quarter—so-named for the French Huguenots who once lived and worked there—includes the area around Philadelphia Alley, State, Queen, and Chalmers Streets and is a mixture of commercial and residential buildings with inns, offices, restaurants, bars, and shops. Even the theatrical entity known as the Footlight Players (see the chapter on The Arts) coexists with busy families in this bustling cosmopolitan atmosphere. Because the French Quarter is a small neighborhood of only a few square blocks, we’re only talking about 40 town houses or so. Behind their relatively common facades, they vary in size, configuration, and building date. However, a late-18th-century to mid-19th-century, 2-bedroom, 2-bath home might average $715,000.
Ansonborough is one of Charleston’s more famous examples of institutionally inspired restoration. In the early 1970s many architecturally significant homes in this neighborhood were in grievous disrepair. The Historic Charleston Foundation initiated a program that effectively and expediently changed the economic course of the entire area. A decade later, Ansonborough was one of the city’s more sought-after neighborhoods, and it still is today. The advent of the South Carolina Aquarium, Liberty Square, the Ft. Sumter tour boat facility, and the other associated redevelopment along the western bank of the Cooper River just across East Bay Street from Ansonborough has added even more attractiveness to this downtown neighborhood. A typical 1830s house in Ansonborough with 3 bedrooms and 2 to 3 baths can sell in the $700,000 to $2 million range.
Mazyck-Wraggborough includes the blocks between Calhoun Street and the Charleston Museum. Here you’ll find an interesting mix of restored houses, beautiful churches, and light industry. Major historic anchors in this neighborhood include the Aiken-Rhett House, operated by the Historic Charleston Foundation, the Charleston Museum, and its neighboring house museum, the Joseph Manigault House. (See the House Museums section of the Attractions chapter.) In this neighborhood, a 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath house would sell for about $625,000.
The area around the Medical University of South Carolina, the College of Charleston, Colonial Lake, and all points in between is Harleston Village. Here you’ll find an eclectic mix of bed-and-breakfast inns, condos, town houses, stately 18th- and 19th-century properties, and even a couple of high-rise apartment buildings. Some 2-bedroom rental houses are in the $1,500- to $1,950-per-month range. One-bedroom condos sell for about $275,000. An average selling price for a 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath home is about $800,000.
Radcliffeborough is the area north of Calhoun Street, from the medical complexes east to Mazyck-Wraggborough. Ashley Hall, an independent school for girls, is situated here on a 4-acre campus that includes the recently restored historic (ca. 1816) McBee House. There are several other fully restored mansions nearby plus rental properties, and many fixer-uppers can still be found in this area. There are also several new construction projects under way here. There are 2-bedroom apartment rentals in Radcliffeborough average $1,400 per month. A 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath home is in the range of $600,000 to $700,000.
Welcome to Greater Charleston, where three South Carolina counties—Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester—blend together and create the scenic backdrop for a unique and wonderful lifestyle.
This is a land of history, the home of Revolutionary statesmen. This is a city of gallantry, glory, folly, and pain—where democracy was nurtured and secession proclaimed. This is where, very early on, beauty was deemed as important as survival, whatever the cost. Pride was encouraged. Families were sacrosanct, and God was dutifully acknowledged in mind and matter.
The sociopolitical passions and turbulent economies that made Charleston such a fascinating place 200 years ago are still very much with us today. Only now the canvas is larger, the paintbrush wider, and Charleston’s colorful story just gets bolder as the years go by.
One of the reasons Charleston seems so timeless has to do with geography. The historic Peninsula (the heart of Charleston’s identity) is bound by two rivers, the Ashley and the Cooper. Despite whatever else those rivers have meant to Charleston and its people over time, the waters effectively impounded the 18th-century city. This watery restraint forced all real growth and change northward—pushing it upward, spilling it over onto neighboring lands. Even today, neighborhoods that were built “east Cooper” or “west Ashley” always carry the unspoken phrase “of the Peninsula” and bear indirect witness to the old city’s powerful presence.
The natural containment of the Ashley and Cooper rivers (effectively protecting the Peninsula from change) had an accomplice in the Lowcountry itself. The southeastern third of South Carolina is physically low, close to sea level, prone to swampland, marsh, and innumerable shallow creeks and streams. The land was hostile toward early settlers and planters, and it was costly to railroad builders and almost every other developer. It didn’t welcome growth, and it resists change to this day.
In many ways Charleston was isolated and remained something of a cultural island while America pushed westward into its destiny. Charleston and its captive Peninsula effectively stayed behind, surrounded by its many coastal distractions.
As it has for eons, the endless marsh seems to change color every day. Unspoiled beaches can be caught playing tag with a restless (occasionally punishing) sea. Charlestonians know that not far away they can find dark and mysterious swamps that, in certain moonlight, whisper primordial secrets in the native tongue of an ancient higher power.
If this is isolation, then it’s splendid isolation. This is the Lowcountry: a place, a people, a unique perspective on the world.
Is it any wonder we love living here?