One of my favorite buildings in Charleston. It’s a little outside what we think of as the historic district.

Everything about this building is special.

From the Charleston property files;

House constructed circa 1796; renovated 1890s. Funeral home constructed 1894; complex rehabilitated as residential condominiums 1984. The Charleston single house at 313 Meeting Street was built about 1796 by John Horlbeck on that portion of the original Ansonborough suburb formerly owned by Peter Porcher. Though the house is said to retain much of its original interior woodwork, its exterior was heavily altered with Eastlake/Victorian style alterations after its purchase by Jesse M. Connelley in 1892. Connelley, an Edgefield businessman and salesman, purchased an undertaking business from Frederick Ansel and retained the builder J. D. Murphy to design and construct a new Romanesque Revival style mortuary in 1894 at 309 Meeting Street. This structure’s facade, including sandstone detailing and stained glass windows, is essentially original to construction. Connelley also established Charleston Greenhouses on the site, selling tropical fish from a small outdoor aquarium, which partially survives in front of the greenhouses. Connelley also completed a large brick coffin warehouse at the rear of the site, a structure now facing Burns Lane. Connelley became South Carolina’s first licensed mortician, when such laws were enacted early in the 20th century, and operated the leading funeral home serving Charleston’s elite families for several generations. In 1984 a group of Atlanta investors rehabilitated the house and mortuary as condominiums, retaining their exterior appearances and much of their interiors as well. The former coffin warehouse at Burns Lane/143 Calhoun Street now serves as a maintenance facility for the College of Charleston.