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Aiken Rhett House Research Paper

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Since the 1820s, the Aiken Rhett House remains to be one of the most grandiose houses to visit in Charleston. Until 1975 when the Charleston History Museum purchased the house and converted it into a house museum, the Aiken Rhett house remained in the family line for 142 years. The house was first built and owned by John Robinson, a Charleston merchant. Due to a financial crisis, Mr. Robinson sold the house to William Aiken Sr., an Irish immigrant and successful merchant, in 1827. When Mr. Aiken died of an unfortunate carriage accident, his son, William Aiken Jr. who was a very prosperous businessman and rice planter as well as a politician and governor of South Carolina, was bequeathed the house. He and his wife made three main changes to …show more content…

owned fourteen African American slaves who maintained the elegance and high standards of living at the Aiken Rhett House. The two original slave corridors still reside on the grounds of the house. The family also traveled all across Europe and many of the treasures acquired remain in the house. In 1887, William Aiken Jr. died, and his wife and daughter inherited the house. Mrs. Aiken lived in the house with her daughter, Henrietta, son-in-law, Major A.B. Rhett, and their four sons and daughter until she died in 1892. When the daughter died, her children and their descendants inherited the Aiken Rhett House. I’On Rhett and Andrew Burnet Rhett, Jr., the two sons of Henrietta, lived in the house until the mid-1900s. In 1995, the Historic Charleston Foundation purchased the house and turned it into a house museum. The Aiken Rhett House exemplifies the three preservation approaches—preservation, restoration, and rehabilitation/adaptive. (Butler, Aiken-Rhett House Museum - Historic Charleston …show more content…

Visitors are able to see a realistic version of the collection from the antebellum South that the Aikens once owned. The Aiken Family built a private art gallery to showcase their rare findings. Brandy Culp, the Historic Charleston Foundation Curator, restored the art gallery to its original condition from the nineteenth century. In the late twentieth century, the Historic Charleston Foundation made additional restoration works to protect the rare artworks by adding climate control. In late 2013, restoration commenced thanks to the donations from a descendant of the family, Harold J. Bowen Jr.. The artworks were carefully taken down so that the existing damage on the cornice could be repaired and restored to its original state. The wall coloring replicated the original color in 1858. A team of designers then worked to put the artworks back in their original places. The restoration of the art gallery ended in 2014, and the art gallery appeared to be back in its original state in the mid 19th century. (Butler, Aiken’s Art Gallery Restored - Historic Charleston

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