Charleston southern classic mansion design parlor detail

Southern Classic Mansion: Historic Charleston

Today’s design inspiration comes from a superbly renovated and well-preserved ornate Italian Renaissance-style Southern Classic mansion in Charleston, South Carolina.  The residence, whose main house dates to the 1850s, is one of the city’s grandest and most impressive houses in the Italianate style of the mid-19th century and is included on the Charleston Registry of Historic Homes.  The 9,700 square-foot, three and one-half story, seven-bedroom home is an elegant rendition of the regional-style Charleston single house.  The home’s design departs from the traditional plan with the addition of a northside wing, which balances the piazza on the opposite side.  The residence is locally known as the Patrick O’Donnell House, named after the Irish immigrant who built it.

Through the years, the various owners of the Southern Classic mansion have continually restored and enhanced the structure.  They added plenty of modern luxury design amenities as well.  The property has benefited from the addition of a separate guesthouse, which added 1,100 square feet, a three-car, climate-controlled garage, and a heated pool.  The extensive renovation, restoration, and enhancement efforts have elevated this home to one of the finest in the city.

Charleston southern classic mansion design front exterior

The current owners initially purchased the Southern Classic mansion to serve as a vacation home.  A few years later, they found themselves spending more and more time at the property and so decided that it needed to be a bit more personal.  It needed to function more like their primary residences, and less trophy pied-a-terre.  Of course, they wanted to maintain all the period classical design details for which they purchased the home.  They wanted to keep everything as historically correct as possible, without feeling stuffy.  The desire was to create a sense of history, personal history as though the family had lived there for generations and pieces had been gradually added along the way to the present day.  It needed to be in the style that O’Donnell envisioned, only adjusted for their modern life

Charleston southern classic mansion design entry hall

To fine-tune the home’s interiors, the owners called on their trusted designer with whom they already collaborated on over a dozen projects, Susanne Lichten Csongor, the principal of the Massachusetts firm SLC Interiors.  The designer was to complete the house with a design that could equally exist today and years ago.  They had complete confidence in her, and she has brilliantly created for them what they most wanted of their historic mansion, a charming and inviting home that can be shared with family and friends.

Charleston southern classic mansion design front parlor
Charleston southern classic mansion design parlor detail

The interior architecture includes layers of design details that have been painstakingly restored and cared for over the years.  This latest interior design makes them the prize of the palace with everything else meant to complement and emphasize them, rather than compete.  The home includes a double parlor located off the entrance hall where the details really shine; lavish crown moldings, stacked cornices, ceiling friezes, marble fireplaces, and baseboards.  Here and throughout, the designer used a mostly neutral color palette to temper the grandeur of the interior architecture and a mix of period art and antiques along with some more classic contemporary pieces for a perfect balance.

In the front parlor, gathered on an antique carpet, the designer placed a custom scroll-arm sofa with a Rose Tarlow coffee table and a pair of Nancy Corzine chairs.   To balance the fireplace on the opposite wall, she selected a fine Empire-style chest and placed an 18th-century portrait painting above both.

Charleston southern classic mansion design rear parlor

This view shows through to the rear parlor.  The chandeliers in both rooms came with the house and so remained.  The furnishings gather on another fabulous antique rug.  A daybed upholstered in a Clarence House silk anchors the back with a mid-19th century Continental Neoclassical console behind it and a coffee table from Nancy Corzine before it.  A pair of custom lounge chairs complete the arrangement.

Charleston southern classic mansion design dining room

The formal dining room was allowed a bit more drama as dining rooms often are.  For this room, the designer had a custom wallcovering created depicting life in Charleston at the time the home was originally built.  She orchestrated the ideas and handed them over to the artist at Gracie studio along with the elevations and the scenes were hand-painted onto the wallcoverings.  The custom Regency dining table pairs with chairs from Nancy Corzine.  A fabulous Napoleon III gilded mirror from East & Orient Company in Dallas hangs over the marble fireplace.  The crystal chandelier came with the home.  The owners frequently host elegant dinners for ten when in town.

Charleston southern classic mansion design kitchen

The brick chef’s kitchen includes custom cabinetry and an island topped with locally sourced marble, along with a pressed tin ceiling.  The appliances are commercial grade.  The framed harbor scene Passage des Detroits, is from Gracie, while the leather-covered bar stools are from Minton-Spidell.

Charleston southern classic mansion design powder room

Powder rooms should always be this way!  Grand and theatrical.  This is my favorite room in the home.  Being from the South originally myself, and loving southern classic style, this entire home speaks to me, but this powder room is everything!  The wallcovering in here is from Cowtan & Tout.  The Verde marble top vanity includes a hand-painted under-mount sink complete with gold-plated swan faucets by P.E. Guerin.  A 19th century English portrait reflects in the giltwood Louis XVI mirror flanked by a pair of French gilt-bronze sconces.

Charleston southern classic mansion design billiards room

Here in the billiards room, the traditional design styling continues.  The pair of tufted leather wing chairs are circa 1930.  The room is very English.  Very handsome.

Charleston southern classic mansion design library

The wood-paneled walls, gilded framed portrait, and that exquisite fireplace screen create an old-world sophisticated atmosphere in the Southern Classic mansion library.

Charleston southern classic mansion design staircase

The designer used a natural Merida Agave runner on the stairs to allow the magnificent architecture to shine, including the turned and fluted balusters, a coffin corner niche, and the spiraling moldings overhead, while also keeping it all grounded.  In addition to the grand staircase, there is also an antique elevator that leads up to all floors.

Charleston southern classic mansion design master bedroom 1
Charleston southern classic mansion design master bedroom sitting area
Charleston southern classic mansion design master bathroom

The master bedroom suite is actually quite timeless for a Southern Classic mansion.  This all feels so familiar to me, with exception of the master bathroom.  I love the mirrors suspended in front of the windows with the crystal chandeliers suspended above each of them.  Linens from Sferra dress the bed, a reproduction of an early 1800s sea captain’s bed.  Antique fabrics form the accent pillows.  The sitting area includes a Regency style mahogany Recamier- circa 1825-35, a 19th-century Continental sewing table, and an 18th-century portrait.

Charleston southern classic mansion design guest bedroom
Charleston southern classic mansion design guest bedroom detail
Charleston southern classic mansion design guest bedroom 2
Charleston southern classic design mansion guest bedroom 3

Today the home’s multiple bedrooms frequently fill with guests who travel down with the owners to enjoy all the city has to offer, and for a good dose of Southern charm.

Charleston southern classic mansion design inner piazza

The deep porches shield the interiors from the sun and are a classic design feature in Southern architecture.  You can also see the home’s carriage house there.

Charleston southern classic mansion design piazza street side

This is a view of the piazza side of the southern classic mansion from the front.  Each level has a different entablature on fluted Doric Columns.  The wide verandas open all three floors to the outdoors.  There is also a rooftop deck.  The exterior of the residential architecture includes vermiculated quoins and an elaborate cornice with both dentils and modillions.

Charleston southern classic mansion design rear facade

Designer Susanne Lichten Csongor and her team at SLC Interiors have wonderfully executed the desires of the homeowners. The completed design perfectly respects and enhances the home’s period details while also making the home warm and welcoming and adapted to modern life. 

That concludes our design inspiration for today, my friend.

To see another gracious Southern mansion, be sure to see:

French Chateau in Texas: Kara Childress

Contemporary Traditional Design: Southern Mansion

SOUTHERN CLASSIC MANSION DESIGN

Susanne Lichten Csongor, founder of SLC Interiors, Inc. has over twenty years of extensive experience in high-end residential design with offices in Boston and Hamilton, Massachusetts.  Whether you are renovating a turn of the century equestrian estate or building new construction on Nantucket, they have the decades of experience, the studied taste, and the exclusive sources to turn your house into your dream home. The firm’s residential practice includes a private family compound in Nantucket featuring a spa, tennis, and an equestrian facility, residences at The Setai Hotel overlooking Miami Beach, and a Pied a Terre overlooking Boston’s Public Garden.

The company includes a retail store, Blue Peacock Home, in South Hamilton, MA. Susanne searched the world for designers, artisans, and manufacturers who could produce the exquisite quality and eye-catching designs she and her clients demanded, but at pleasing prices.  You can shop online or visit the showroom.

Interior design:  SLC Interiors-Massachusetts

photography: Durston Saylor

Traditional Home

Thank you so much for reading along with me.  I hope you enjoyed today’s Southern Classic Mansion.  There is no shortage of interior design lessons and inspiration here for fans of traditional design.  Let me hear from you in the comments.

Have a great day!

Comments

  1. I like what you guys are up too. This sort of clever work and reporting!
    Keep up the great works guys I’ve included you guys to our
    blogroll.

  2. You can definitely see your enthusiasm within the articles you write.
    The world hopes for more passionate writers such as you
    who are not afraid to mention how they believe. At all times go after your heart!

  3. Susanne and her team have done a fantastic job! Wow, I so enjoyed seeing this magnificent home. She has the “touch” for sure. Thank you for helping me confirm what I like by seeing what she has done. I troll the internet trying to find my style. I wish more homes looked like this. I think I was born in the wrong time period! Ha! Best wishes and looking forward to seeing more wonderful talent. Kathy Allen

    1. Hi Kathy, We are so glad you like it. Susanne and her team did a fantastic job. This is one of our most popular articles. Thank you for reading along with us!!

    1. Hi Louise, Im so glad you like it. It is indeed! Thanks so much!

  4. I grew up in that house! My dad bought it about 1960, when it was divided into 5 apartments. He gave it its first historic renovation, though of course our budget was much smaller than this one. My dad died in 1981 and my mother sold it in, I think, 1985. So it was in the Green family for those 25 years. Would love to talk with the owners about the house as we knew it. This is a beautiful and faithful renovation/decoration, in my opinion.

    The front parlor we kept pretty empty except for musical instruments, and called it “the ballroom.” I made my debut there in 1971. People thought of it as “the house with the harp in the window.”

    1. Hi Frederica, How wonderful! I love that. Thank you for sharing that with us. It is such a wonderful home. This makes the story even more interesting.

  5. I have just found the epitome of my dream home here on your site. The photography is just gorgeous and the article
    is very interesting and informative. As a British expatriate who lives in Australia, but visits the U.S. fairly often to visit my sister, I have a love of classic American architecture and interior design that no other style evokes in me.
    I suspect it comes from reading Margaret Mitchell’s wonderful book ‘Gone With the Wind’ as a teenager!

    Thank you for this thoroughly enjoyable article.

    1. Author

      Hi Patricia, We are so glad you like it. It is indeed an exceptional home. Thank you so much for commenting and many thanks for continuing to read along with us.

  6. This is truly the most incredible home I have ever seen! So happy to see such amazing architectural details throughout. So many people now seem to renovate the old beauty out of homes and it’s such a pleasure to see that these people were thoughtful and caring in restoring this back to it’s grandeur yet still bringing it into this century.

  7. I visit this house at least once a month, to provide me with the definitive inspiration for my own house, a Regency family house in Somerset, England. This house is true to its era, theatrical yet restrained. I’m trying to persuade my daughter to embark on a mural painting in our dining room too…

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