Design Destinations: Charleston, South Carolina

For 12 years in a row, Travel and Leisure magazine crowned Charleston the readers’ favorite city in the U.S. Ask any Charlestonian, defined as someone born and raised there—or, for the more rigorous test, someone whose ancestors were here before the Revolutionary War—and they will politely smile and say, “We know.” They won’t say much else but will secretly wish it remained the sleepy, slightly shabby town it was in the latter part of the 20th century. 

 Since then, with migration from North to South and the influence of social media, which favors all things fairy-dusted, Charleston has drawn a new population appealing to all ages and stages of life. It’s a city that is walkable, breathtakingly beautiful, and historic, and it offers art, culture, good food, and beaches. It checks all the boxes. 

But today’s Charleston limped into modern times like a preserved grande dame. Not fancy. Nothing shiny or new. Simply put: Charleston grew into the city we celebrate today because of preservation by neglect. 

 After the Civil War, the economic collapse in the South was crippling. There was simply no money to rebuild these old Southern towns. You’ve heard the old saying, “Too poor to paint, too proud to whitewash,” meaning one couldn’t afford to fix things up properly but had too much pride to do it the cheap way. The recovery was slow and hollowed out, lasting for almost a century. And that is how the accidental preservation of Charleston began. 

In 1920, as modern times began taking the wrecking ball to historic cities, Charleston had the foresight to adopt the value of preservation. By 1931, Charleston had passed the first historic preservation ordinance in the U.S.

I lived in Charleston twice, first having moved there from Iowa City, Iowa, in 1978 to work with a colleague opening a chic women’s clothing store on lower King Street, a part of the city that was derelict except for the old-time antiques dealers. After a brief period of “adjustment,” my heart, chilly from all those winters in the Midwest with Norwegians and Germans, began to soften and open like a magnolia blossom.

Everything about it was foreign to this farm girl from Iowa. The 18th- and 19th-century architecture; the mottled stucco; the watercolor-like paint on the homes; the mossy, tangled gardens; the camellia, magnolia, and jasmine. The scale of the place, originally built for horse and carriage, felt like a caress walking crooked brick alleyways softly lit by moonlight and gas lanterns. The imperfection of it all made it extraordinarily beautiful. Indeed, it was fairy-dusted.

I spent eight years in the city during a formative time of my life, then returned in 2014, after 30 years in Minneapolis. It’s hard to get it out of your system. I wouldn’t know how much of that fairy dust of Old Charleston I had absorbed until I started my interior design business in Minneapolis a decade after leaving The Holy City. I am who I am today because of Charleston, both as a person and as a designer, indebted to the time I spent in the presence of a deep respect for history and tradition.

What did I learn? The original tattered silk upholstery is better than replacing it with something new. Brown furniture, the pieces replaced with IKEA in other parts of the country, gives weight and grounds a room; every room needs at least one piece. The colors were mostly a bit drab. Maybe they had just faded, but I couldn’t get those color palettes out of my imagination. Old Charlestonians traveled to Europe, and pieces were passed down through the generations, with collections that included French and English, with the Asian pieces entering Europe in the 18th century. So, I honed my eye by seeing this mix. I don’t ever recall seeing a single room that was “too decorated,” especially ones designed by Amelia Handegan, the reigning queen of Charleston style.

“Just don’t decorate” is my new maxim. I have especially used this approach in my own homes. I just buy what I like, all antiques, with attention to scale, and put them together. It works. The appeal of something dappled with a little tradition seems to be the “latest” design trend, though that brown furniture never went out of fashion in Charleston.

If you visit Charleston, this is what I would like you to see: the mottled watercolored façades, the fern growing out of the stucco, the profound elegance of something imperfect. Just like each of us, it’s the imperfections of Charleston that make it all so beautiful. 

Old Charleston

Take a walk South of Broad. Wander these streets and alleys: Legare, Tradd, Church, King, Meeting, Lamboll, Gadsden, Stoll’s Alley, and Rainbow Row along the Battery. Take in the historic architecture—colonial, Georgian, Victorian, Greek Revival, and more—in residences, commercial buildings, galleries, and museums.

Stay at the Zero George boutique hotel, where Old Charleston meets new Southern hospitality on the corner of East Bay and George Streets. Five immaculately restored properties share a garden and courtyard that make you feel like you are living in the chicest of the city’s oldest neighborhoods. It’s away from the hustle and bustle of King Street, yet you are still just a short 10-minute walk to the center of town. 

If you choose to tour only one historic house, make it the Aiken-Rhett House. The Greek Revival has been virtually untouched since the 1850s, making it an example of true historic preservation, not restoration. The house’s archaelogical history highlights the lives of the 14 enslaved African Americans who lived and worked here. Their original quarters remain.

Also in Charleston’s historic district is The Gibbes Museum of Art. The 1905 museum, an excellent example of Beaux Arts building, has evolved from exhibits of miniature portrait paintings (part of its permanent collection of more than 600 objects) to showcasing world-class contemporary Southern artists aligned around relevant themes. Next year, the museum will feature a retrospective of Leo Twiggs batik paintings, some 50 years after his first solo show at The Gibbes in 1976.

Adjacent to The Gibbes, on lower King Street, is the third-oldest private library in the U.S. The Charleston Library Society, established in 1748, is a members-only institution, but it frequently presents ticketed, design-focused events that are open to the public. Be sure to check the calendar of events prior to your visit.

Next, wander across the street, and if the iron gates are open, step inside the old Unitarian Churchyard, which is a graveyard about a block in length and an example of the many public “pocket gardens” all over town.

For the historically inclined, tour the circa-1808 Nathaniel Russell House, a national historic landmark, on Meeting Street. The neoclassical residence is considered one of the finest examples of this type of architecture in the U.S. Recent preservation efforts have uncovered physical artifacts that reveal details about the 18 enslaved people who worked and lived here.

Farther afield from the city, but just a 20-minute drive, is Drayton Hall, another architectural gem, this one of Georgian design. Here, tours emphasize the mesmerizing architectural features in context with stories illuminating the lives of enslaved residents who built and maintained the house when the property was a working plantation. Notably, the African American burial grounds in the woods behind the grand house are a striking juxtaposition to the lives lived here.

Finally my design suggestions would be remiss without mentioning these antiques shops: Visit Seventeen South Antiques for the best of the classics; just across the Ashley River Bridge, Alexandra AD Antiques on lower King Street offers well-curated European antiques, and Wynsum Antiques is on upper King Street for a collection of newer dealers.

New Charleston

After more than 20 years of planning, the International African American Museum opened in 2023. A passion project of the former 40-year mayor Joe Riley, the sleek, contemporary museum is sited above the wharf where 40 percent of enslaved people were first brought to North America, commemorating this painful arc of our history. 

Whether you go for the surprising architectural transformation by Workstead (now based in NYC but originally from Charleston) of a midcentury federal building or spend the night, The Dewberry is a great place to understand how Charleston’s preservation movement is evolving. Sip on a beverage in the lounge, where locals and tourists mix. If you are staying at the hotel, you will receive priority seating at the Citrus Club bar on the eighth-floor rooftop with a 360-degree view of the city. Among the prized suites is one designed by John Derian. The hotel also showcases lighting by Charleston-based Urban Electric Company (its sumptuous book-like periodical is also available in the hotel’s shop).

Speaking of John Derian, Wentworth, a newish shop by event designer Gregory Blake Sams, seems to channel the New York designer’s spirit with a Southern twist. The shop is a menagerie of interesting, useful, and impossible-to-resist finds for the home, located in the residential neighborhood of Harleston Village as if it’s lived there for decades.

After 30 years on King Street, Worthwhile owner Robben Richards moved to a quieter locale and renovated a historic property to live in the 21st century. The Swedish aesthetic is the perfect backdrop for the distinctive apparel, most of it made in Europe.

For a nosh, reserve a table at Chez Nous restaurant or stop in Bin 152, a wine bar—both notable for the décor (and cuisine). Owned by Patrick and Fanny Panella, Chez Nous is a tiny historic Charleston home turned charming, authentic European restaurant with waitstaff dressed in striped Bretons, a reference to Fanny’s French heritage. The same couple own the intimate wine bar, which also serves as an art gallery.

Lastly, swing into Lillian’s Petite Market & Eatery for a neighborhood-friendly taste of new-meets-old Charleston inside a 1935 clapboard cottage. Housed in what was Harold’s Cabin (a restaurant co-owned by Bill Murray), Lillian’s opened late last year (celebrating Harold’s wife, Lillian) by Heather Greene. The charming full-service restaurant and bar upstairs also has a boutique of grab-and-go food, drinks, and other sundries, perfect for a picnic in the nearby park or to take back to your hotel room.

Alecia Stevens maintained an interior design studio in Minneapolis for 30 years. She now resides among faded frescos in an 18th-century villa in Italy’s Tuscan countryside. Follow along with her adventures at A Renaissance Life, aleciastevens.substack.com.