South Carolina Department of Archives and History |
National Register Properties in South Carolina Lace House, Richland County (803 Richland St., Columbia) |
Facade | Left Oblique | Right Oblique | Interior Central Hall |
Interior Dining Room |
Interior Ceiling Medallion |
(Robertson House) The Lace House has its historic significance as part of the buildings that make up Columbia’s Arsenal Hill, a complex of fine mansions which were built shortly before the Civil War, and which furnished residences for the succeeding political and social elite of South Carolina’s capital city through the early 1900s. The Lace House itself was at one time the home of a United States senator and at another of a mayor of Columbia. The house was built on the southwest corner of the square in 1854 by a respected Columbia banker, John C. Caldwell, as a wedding present for his youngest daughter, Mary and her husband, Thomas J. Robertson. Said to have been designed by a French architect who at the time was designing homes in New Orleans, the Lace House features ornamental cornices and friezes, parquet floors and figured glass doors and windows. It is a double-porched Classical Revival mansion with Italianate details that has an English basement, bracketed cornices, arched doors, and ornate cast iron porch supports, railings and trim. The lace-like appearance of all the lavish ironwork gives the house its popular name. Listed in the National Register December 17, 1969.
View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property.
Most National Register properties are privately owned and are not open to the public. The privacy of owners should be respected. Not all properties retain the same integrity as when originally documented and listed in the National Register due to changes and modifications over time.
Images and texts on these pages are intended for research or educational use. Please read our statement on use and reproduction for further information on how to obtain a photocopy or how to cite an item.
Images provided by the
South Carolina Department of Archives and History.