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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!