The house was built in 1845 by shipping merchant William Ravenel. The drawing room runs the entire width of the house and is perhaps the largest drawing room in Charleston.[1]
The house suffered severe damage in the
1886 Charleston earthquake;[2] its giant order Tower of the Winds portico was destroyed, leaving only the base. One of the capitals from the columns was unearthed 73 years later when
Hurricane Gracie felled a tree which had grown atop the capital where it had fallen and been imbedded in the soft soil.[3][4]