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Auldbrass Plantation

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Coordinates: 32°40′46.1″N 80°48′47.9″W / 32.679472°N 80.813306°W / 32.679472; -80.813306
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Old Brass
Auldbrass Living Room
Auldbrass Plantation is located in South Carolina
Auldbrass Plantation
Auldbrass Plantation is located in the United States
Auldbrass Plantation
Nearest cityYemassee, South Carolina
Coordinates32°40′46.1″N 80°48′47.9″W / 32.679472°N 80.813306°W / 32.679472; -80.813306
Area326 acres (132 ha)
Built1941
ArchitectFrank Lloyd Wright
Architectural styleModern Movement
NRHP reference No.76001693[1]
Added to NRHPJune 3, 1976

Auldbrass Plantation or Auldbrass is located in Beaufort County, South Carolina, near the town of Yemassee.[2][3] The guest house, stable complex and kennels were designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright from 1939 to 1941. It is one of two structures that Wright designed in South Carolina.[4] The property was purchased in the 1930s by Charles Leigh Stevens. Wright designed the plantation to serve as a retreat for Stevens. During Stevens' retreats he would use the property for riding and hunting excursions.[5]

Wright is credited with changing the name of the plantation from "Old Brass" to "Auldbrass." "Old Brass" was the original name given to the farmland and the local river landing after an old slave from an old plantation on the land before.[5] The earliest records from the farm are dated to 1736 when the farm was known as Mount Pleasant. An industrial engineer, C. Leigh Stevens, joined five parcels of land together along the Combahee River to form the plantation. The plantation was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It was purchased in 1986 by film producer Joel Silver after Donna Butler, an FLW real estate appraiser, convinced him to restore it. Auldbrass Plantation is an extraordinary example of historic preservation and is open to the public one weekend every two years. Tours benefit the Beaufort County Open Land Trust.[6][7]

Design

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The Auldbrass Plantation was a collection of buildings. This included the main residence, cottages, guest house, caretaker's quarters, chicken runs, kennels, stables, and Granary. The main residence and a few of the other buildings implemented a hexagon module floorplan. When approaching the house, there was no grand entrance, the driveways were angled to lead visitors past the farm buildings before getting to the main residence. The main residence is inspired by the nature around it, with vertically oriented brick walls and sloping cypress wood walls with narrow windows. The residence also has a copper roof with rainspouts mimicking the Spanish moss hanging from the oak trees. Upon entering the residence, the living room with its clerestory-like windows running above is to the right and the fireplace on the back wall. Around the fireplace is the breakfast room. To the left are the two bedrooms.[5][8][9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. ^ McNulty, Katharine N.; Cindy Cole; Mr. and Mrs. Loring (October 17, 1975). "Old Brass (Auldbrass)" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  3. ^ "Old Brass, Beaufort County (River Rd., Yemassee vicinity)". National Register Properties in South Carolina. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  4. ^ Gikaru, David (2017). Passive Solar Architecture: Case Study on Strategies Used in Jacobs House Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright (Thesis). Carleton University. doi:10.22215/etd/2017-11993.
  5. ^ a b c Larkin, David (1993). Frank Lloyd Wright The Masterworks. New York: Rizzoli in association with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. pp. 188–197. ISBN 0847817156.
  6. ^ Beaufort County Open Land Trust
  7. ^ Lee, Matt; Lee, Ted (2003-11-30). "Auldbrass Wasn't Rebuilt in a Day". New York Times.
  8. ^ Emery, Mary Lou (2020). "Building plantation America: Creolized design and captive labor in Wright, Faulkner, and Chesnutt". Literature Compass. 17 (1–2). doi:10.1111/lic3.12558. S2CID 213406365.
  9. ^ Storrer, William Allin (2007). The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. The University of Chicago Press. pp. 264–267. ISBN 978-0226776200.
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