72 Cannon Street - The Charlestonian

MARY AMARINTHIA SNOWDEN TENEMENT

Built ca. 1840

Philanthropist Mary Amarinthia Yates Snowden erected the structure for use as a rental property on land she inherited from her father. The dwelling remained in her family for over a century. Snowden is best known for serving as a nurse on the front lines during the Civil War and as an advocate for the widows and children of fallen Confederate soldiers.

The structure is distinctive of the Charleston single house typology. It is defined by a one-room wide and two-room deep floor plan with a central hall. It was designed with an L-shape piazza that faced both the Ashley River and a mill pond that bounded the south side of Cannon Street in the 1850s.

The structure at the end of the driveway was also built by Snowden as a rental unit and was first advertised primarily for black citizens. Together, the two buildings formed a large rear work yard used by many of the property’s occupants. Both structures underwent a significant contemporary renovation during which time the main dwelling’s piazza was extended along the east elevation.

Corporate clerks rented the main dwelling in the 1860s. This included A.W. Muckenfuss, who was imprisoned during the Civil War as part of Charleston’s Jamison Riflemen. After the war, black policemen, brick masons and tailors occupied both rental dwellings with their families. The first floor served as the doctor’s office of young physician Charles Schroder in the 1890s and the workspace for black dressmaker Julia Simmons in the 1910s, both of whom resided in upstairs apartments. After returning from World War II, U.S. Marine Charles L. Baldwin operated Baldwin’s Poultry House from the rear yard while residing in the structure with his young family.