In Charleston, we are well aware of our historic architectural heritage and the myriad of antique homes that are still being lived and loved in.  The peninsula of Charleston is crammed full of charming carriage houses, grand mansions, and multi colored row houses that make our city such a beautiful place.  However, at an event this week, in a private home that began life as a church, I started to think about other residential properties in town that were originally built with another purpose in mind.

Printer’s Row on East Bay Street was converted into condos in the 1980s but this building originally housed Walker, Evans and Cogswell, the printing company for the Confederacy.

In 2000, The old Murray Vocational School at 3 Chisolm Street was converted into condominiums.  Built in 1923, it was named for philanthropist Andrew Buist Murray.  Besides being a school the building once housed the offices of the Board of Education.

These are great examples of adaptive reuse of historic properties that would otherwise sit unloved and unused.

Mr. H says: Taste and wealth cannot transform a house into a home-that can only be achieved by the lives that it inhabit it-Enjoy!