South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

The William Enston Home, Charleston County (900 King St., Charleston)
S1081771016101 S1081771016102 S1081771016103 S1081771016104 S1081771016105
Residential Cottage
Facade
Residential Cottage
Left Oblique
Residential Cottage
Right Elevation
Residential Cottage
Right Oblique
Memorial Hall
Facade
S1081771016106 S1081771016107 S1081771016108 S1081771016109 S1081771016110
Memorial Hall
Right Oblique
Memorial Hall
Right Elevation
Memorial Hall
Rear Elevation
Memorial Hall
Left Rear
Oblique
Memorial Hall
Left Oblique
S1081771016111 S1081771016112 S1081771016113 S1081771016114 S1081771016115
Office
Facade
Office
Right Oblique
Office
Right Elevation
Office
Right Rear
Oblique
Office
Rear Elevation
S1081771016116 S1081771016117 S1081771016118 S1081771016119  
Office
Left Rear
Oblique
Office
Left Elevation
Office
Left Oblique
Tower

The William Enston Home, a complex constructed between the initial acquisition of the property in 1882 and 1933, is significant as an early example of benevolent and philanthropic efforts to provide housing for the elderly. Funded by an 1859 bequest from William Enston, an Englishman who immigrated to Charleston in the early nineteenth century, the home was intended to house the aged and infirm in a manner similar to the home in Enston’s native Canterbury. As such, the William Enston Home may be the oldest such complexes in the South. The home was established on the north end of the Charleston peninsula on the former Storen farm. The initial portions of the Enston Home complex were built between 1884 and 1888, with additional buildings and structures built in 1893, 1927, and 1933. The site consists of 27 buildings, 2 structures, and 12.1 landscaped acres. With its neat rows of detached double cottages set amid spacious landscaped grounds, the Home provides an unusual and well-preserved example of nineteenth century picturesque suburban-planning concepts adapted to a charitable and institutional function. It is also locally significant as an example of the Romanesque Revival style, rare in Charleston. Listed in the National Register April 25, 1996.

View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property.

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