Jackson Street Cottages, 193-199 Jackson Street, Charleston, Charleston County, SC

2017 Charles E. Peterson Prize, Entry
Significance: The Jackson Street cottages were built during the 1890s as affordable housing to accommodate low-income, working class families during a period of urban expansion and development in Charleston. Despite their deterioration, the cottages retain much of their original historic fabric and setting. Additionally, the houses are a rare surviving examples of an intact row of Charleston Single Cottages. Many of the Charleston Single Cottages have been demolished; those that do remain are typically individual and no longer comprise a row.

The cottages are sometimes referred to by the term "Freedmen's Cottage" because it was believed that they were originally home to emancipated slaves during the late-nineteenth century. Research does not support this, however, and instead has shown that the first tenants of the Jackson Street Cottages were white. Throughout their history, the Cottages were occupied by both white and African American families living next door to one another, conveying a racially diverse history despite racial discrimination and segregation until the mid-twentieth century. This diverse history shows that the dwellings were a response to housing needs on the peninsula, with class being a greater determinant for where one lived than race. This makes the cottages important to the history of residential development and urban expansion on the peninsula during the late-nineteenth century.

The cottages timber brace frame construction using mortise and tenon joinery sets them apart from other buildings and structures of the period as this method of construction became outdated due to the advent of industrialization prior to the date when the cottages were built. In addition, their street-facing gable ends and side piazzas with street entrances are characteristics derived from the Charleston Single House which distinguishes them as examples of South Carolina Lowcountry vernacular architecture.
Survey number: HABS SC-479
Building/structure dates: ca. 1890 Initial Construction