Meeting Street Memories: The Samuel Chadwick House, 17 Meeting St.
- cdavis884
- Sep 9
- 6 min read
By Peg Eastman
Placed on the very edge of the lot, the handsome home at 17 Meeting St. is sometimes overlooked because of its neighbor, 15 Meeting St., built c. 1770 by John Edwards during the “Golden Age of Colonial Architecture.” Edwards was a leader in the Patriot faction during the American Revolution and paid a heavy price for his politics. He was arrested and deported with other leading citizens to St. Augustine, and his estate was sequestered. He was later exiled to Philadelphia, where he died in 1781. During the British occupation, his residence was so elegant that Vice-Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot, the ranking British naval officer in the town, was quartered in Edwards’ home.
The lot at 17 Meeting St. was once part of John Edwards’ property and has an interesting history. The site was part of Town Lot No. 141 on the “Grand Modell of Charles Town” and was granted to Capt. Charles Clark by the Lords Proprietors of Carolina in 1694. The White Point area of the new town was extremely prestigious, and meticulous research indicates that multiple White Point lots had a multiplicity of owners.
In 1727, the owner of the lot north of No. 141 fronting Meeting Street and John Rivers, owner of an adjacent lot fronting King Street, agreed to open a street 16 feet wide along the southern boundaries of their two properties. Originally called Rivers Street, it was also called Rivers Alley, Didcot’s Alley and Smith’s Lane before it became part of Lamboll Street and was called “Little Lamboll.” This narrow street probably explains why the north side of 17 Meeting was built on the street line.
The site of 17 Meeting St. was formerly part of the grounds of John Edwards’ fine Georgian mansion. The old, hand-made, oversized brick in the foundation of the kitchen building, behind the 17 Meeting St. main house, indicates that its construction dates from the colonial period, and probably was an outbuilding to a tenement built sometime before 1779. The property devolved to Edwards’ heirs and ultimately to his grandson John Gadsden.
There was a two-story brick house on the lot when Samuel Chadwick, a highly successful maritime merchant, purchased the property from John Gadsden’s estate in 1831. Chadwick was probably born in Massachusetts, although his early history is obscure. He arrived in Charleston from Boston in 1816 and returned to Massachusetts to marry Eliza Champney in Salem the following year.
The couple returned to Charleston and leased a home on Tradd Street, leasing another on Water Street in 1818, before moving to Meeting Street in 1822, where he leased the property for some years before he bought it and built a mansion to showcase his wealth.
A showcase it was. A three-story masonry main house, notable for its three-tiered piazzas and classic French doors, overlooking the finest mansions in the trendy neighborhood nearby. The house is constructed of Carolina grey brick laid in American bond. That method of laying brick was introduced into Charleston after the great fire of 1835. The house also has joists made with a circular saw, which was introduced about the same time. Original interior details are in the Italianate mode, which was innovative in Charleston in the late 1840s. The foundation of the back kitchen house may date from the colonial period, but the main house was built in the late 1840s. Chadwick replaced the older house with the present house sometime before 1849.
It was a comfortable home for Chadwick and his wife. In addition to his business interests, Chadwick was a founding member of the New England Society of Charleston in 1819. He was one of three stewards who were responsible for organizing the second anniversary meeting of the society, which was also the 200th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth in 1820. Enjoying a comfortable social life in Charleston, he nonetheless sold his mansion to Benjamin Dart Roper, Jr. in 1849. He left Charleston for New York City, disposed of his Charleston assets and disappeared from Charleston history.
Roper, an attorney and the son of a fourth-generation John’s Island planter, was part of the Lowcountry aristocracy. He lived a quiet life at 17 Meeting St., died in 1875 and was buried in St. Michael’s churchyard.
William M. Bird immediately bought the property from his estate. Bird’s parents had immigrated to Charleston from England in 1820. His father operated a jewelry establishment and sent his son to school in New Britain, Connecticut. During the War Between the States, Bird was a Confederate quartermaster, serving under Major E. Ellis. Later he was active in blockade running between Charleston and Nassau. He was captured by the Union man-of-war Santiago de Cuba and held as a prisoner of war at Fort Warren, Boston, until the end of the war. He returned to Charleston and established his own business as a wholesale/retail dealer in paints, oils, containers and other useful products at 205 East Bay, corner of Cumberland Street, now the location of Amen Street restaurant. The business prospered from the beginning and continued at 205 East Bay until the 1950s.
Bird was typical of many Charleston businessmen of his day and had a wide variety of commercial interests. He was one of the incorporators of the Charleston Manufacturing Company, which built the cotton mill complex later known as the Cigar Factory on East Bay and invested in other cotton mills. He was also an incorporator of the Equitable Fire Insurance Company and was a director of the Consolidated Railway, Gas and Lighting Company and of the Charleston-Isle of Palms Traction Company that operated the railway from Mount Pleasant to Sullivan’s Island and terminated at the Isle of Palms. The list goes on and on.
He also invested in real estate and owned numerous properties. Quite naturally, he placed an imprint on 17 Meeting St. by adding the Victorian Italianate window surrounds, and the bracketed cornice that continues around the roofline. Bird possibly did this work after the 1886 earthquake, which cracked the masonry on the front of the building. Parquetry on the stairs and floor of the upper stair hall, and etched glass in a stair window and piazza door, probably also date from Bird’s time.
Bird was also a member of the executive committee of the Chamber of Commerce and heavily involved in Masonic affairs. He was vice president of the St. George’s Society, trustee of the Charleston Library Society, trustee of The Charleston Museum and a member of the South Carolina Society, the New England Society and the Agricultural Society of South Carolina. An Episcopalian, he was an active member and vestryman of Church of the Holy Communion and on the vestry of the Chapel of the Holy Cross on Sullivan’s Island. Bird gave up most of his business management later in life and died in 1920 at his residence at 17 Meeting St. After a funeral at Church of the Holy Communion, his remains were interred at Magnolia Cemetery with Masonic rites. His pallbearers were some of the most distinguished gentlemen and leading citizens of Charleston.
Frederick Henry Horlbeck lived in 17 Meeting St. from 1924 until his death in 1966. Born at Boone Hall plantation, he was a son of Mayor John S. Horlbeck. He was descended from a distinguished line of builders who had immigrated from Germany to Carolina in the colonial period. They built the Exchange and Custom House and other notable Charleston buildings, including a group at King Street and Horlbeck Alley. The Horlbeck family acquired Boone Hall plantation, where they made bricks, built the iconic row of brick slave quarters and planted the avenue of oaks approaching the main house.
Horlbeck attended local schools, acquired a degree from Harvard Law School and then began the practice of law in Charleston. He was elected to serve a term in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1911-1912 and was president of the Charleston County Bar Association, the Charleston Library Society, a trustee of The Charleston Museum and a director of the Atlantic Savings Bank of Charleston. He was a member of the Carolina Yacht Club and St. John’s Lutheran Church. He died in 1966 and was interred at Magnolia Cemetery.
In the 1970s, the Right Reverend Henry Nutt Parsley lived at 17 Meeting St. while he was the associate rector of St. Philip’s Church. He later held many national positions in the Episcopal Church.
The house was updated in the early 21st century, and today the attached kitchen house portion of the main house floor plan allows for a kitchen/library on the lower level, and additional space for the primary suite, along with a charming guest bedroom on the second level, joined by an elevator for convenience. The rear of the property has a beautifully landscaped garden and pool, and features a separate one-bedroom guest house, plus a two-car garage space with additional off-street parking.
When this highly desirable property was put up for sale recently, according to Redfin.com, 17 Meeting St. sold in July for $7,490,000.
My appreciation to Bob Stockton, Lish Thompson and Malcolm Hale for contributing to this article.
A Charlestonian by birth, Margaret (Peg) Middleton Rivers Eastman is actively involved in the preservation of Charleston’s rich cultural heritage. In addition to being a regular columnist for the Charleston Mercury, she has published through McGraw Hill, The History Press, Evening Post Books and Carologue, a publication of the South Carolina Historical Society. She is a member of the city of Charleston History Commission and serves on the board of the Friends of the Old Exchange.
