The Architecture of Politeness: Form and Meaning
of the Charleston Single House

Robert Russell, Addlestone Professor in the Department of Art History
and Director of the Program in Historic Preservation and Community Planning,
College of Charleston
"The Architecture of Politeness. The Charleston Single House: Form and Meaning"
Thurs., Feb. 16; 3:30 pm
569 Hamilton Hall
UNC Campus

Free and open to the public.
Visitor Parking information here: http://www.unc.edu/visitors/parking.html

‘Unique’ is an overused word, but the Charleston single house is a unique architectural form, found nowhere else. This requires some explanation. The traditional explanations (of which there are two) are superficially convincing, but wrong. This talk proposes a new history of the form, linking it both to the physical development of the city and to Charleston’s reputation as a mannerly city.

Robert Russell is the Addlestone Professor in the Dept. of Art History at the College of Charleston and the Director of the Program in Historic Preservation and Community Planning. An architectural and urban historian, he has written about medieval Italian cities and civic architecture as well as American towns and courthouses. He is currently writing a book about the early nineteenth-century American architect, William Strickland. He has lived in Charleston for twelve years and occasionally writes about that city as well.