23 Tradd Street William Bell House
circa 1797-1800
This three-story stucco house with a clay tile hip roof was built by Charleston merchant William Bell following the destruction of an earlier residence by fire in 1778. The fire, the second of five great Charleston fires between 1740 and 1860, destroyed approximately 250 houses in an area bounded by Water Street, Queen Street, Church Street, and Charleston harbor. The iron bolts were installed to reinforce the north and south walls damaged in the earthquake of 1886.
The building was owned in the 1920s by Miss Susan Pringle Frost, founder and first president of the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings, now known as The Preservation Society of Charleston.
Marker is on Tradd Street, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
