Real EstateLiving in Charleston SC: The Allure of a Historic Carriage House

I often have the same conversation with clients no matter what type of property they are looking for in downtown Charleston SC – they all want a carriage house!  Everyone is fascinated by the carriage houses and kitchen houses that are dotted around the neighborhoods of historic downtown, and the pink ones seem to be everyone’s favorites. Charleston’s diverse architectural history includes a strong influence from the Caribbean Islands and it is reflected in some of its brightly painted homes, with colors that include shades of orange, pale blue, yellow and pink.  I can certainly understand this interest in carriage houses, as I too have always been fascinated with the Charleston carriage/kitchen houses and, although pink is not normally among my favorite colors, the pink carriage/kitchen houses are my favorite as well.

Four years ago I decided that my next house was going to be a Charleston carriage/kitchen house.  Of course moving from a large house to a much smaller carriage house can certainly be a bit of a challenge but a success if you can focus on keeping “just the things you love. ” It took four years to find one, even for someone like myself that works in Charleston real estate every day. Just like my clients, I had a list of “must haves ” regarding location, outdoor space and off-street parking. Four years of searching, reaching out to everyone I knew and looking at a lot of “not quite rights, ” I finally found it. And, believe it or not, it is pink!  Now, 9-months later, after extensive renovations and some serious space planning, my little carriage house is perfect.  

A carriage house is, obviously, where the family carriage was tended and where the horses slept. These carriage houses all boast historic designations, meaning for the most part, they were built no later than 1860. Of course, they’ve all been painstakingly renovated. Authentic carriage houses are quaint, free-standing one- and two-story buildings with living rooms (some even have working fireplaces) and one or two bedrooms, located behind “the big house” in Charleston’s oldest neighborhoods. Most of the carriage houses now include full, modern kitchens popular with today’s home cooks.  Some of these beloved little houses are not carriage houses at all, but are former “kitchen houses ” – the buildings that once housed kitchens, and oftentimes the staff too, before kitchens were moved into the main houses.

Note: A Charleston kitchen house is one of the many descriptions you will find when looking at homes for sale in the historic neighborhoods along the peninsula. If you’re ready to start searching for a historic home of your own, have a look at the current historic homes on the market …