1820 Middle St
Sullivan's Island, Charleston, SC, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Dr. John B. Patrick House

Statement of Significant:

The Dr. John B. Patrick House is historically significant for its social and commercial values as well as its architectural style. Since its construction ca. 1870, the house and store have played several different roles in the development of the community of Sullivans Island, namely as summer residence, full-time residence, brothel, general mercantile, and rental property. Both buildings are essentially intact from their period of significance and serve the community today in the same capacity as they were originally intended.

Historical Background and Significance;

Sullivans Island is a barrier island located immediately north of and at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. Originally used for coastal defenses and as a marking station, the approximately 200-acre island later became host to quarantine stations (pest houses) for holding persons, both free and slave, from entering Charleston if thought to present a potential risk in the spread of disease. From the time of the American Revolution, Sullivans Island has contained a military installation, known first as Fort Sullivan, then as Fort Moultrie. The community that developed around it, known as Moultrieville, was incorporated in 1817. Fort Moultrie was named for General William Moultrie, the officer who in 1776 presided over the construction and defense of the island's small palmetto log fortification. Fort Sullivan. the North end South Carolina mountains or retreated from stagnant heat of the city to cooler breezes of the beaches. Moultrie Ville became the fashionable place for many Charlestonians who could not leave the city during the summer months to move their households. Following the war, Moultrieville was left in shambles. The island's hotel, as well as most of its private residences were gone. By early 1870, however, those in Charleston who had any money remaining, began to rebuild their homes on the island.

Dr. Patrick was a Charleston dentist who near the end of the Civil War patented a piece of dental equipment that was first used widely in Europe and then in the United States. Born in Charleston in 1822, he married Sarah Aukland in 1849. They had eight children - five boys and three girls. Dr. Patrick's office and Charleston home, which he maintained until his death in 1903, was at 82 Society Street. His dental office was in front of the large home on the first floor while living quarters occupied 'the second and third floors. The next two generations of Patricks, also dentists, lived and had their dental offices at 82 Society Street in the city. Dr. Patrick was elected intendent (mayor) of Moultrieville in 1872. At some time before his will was written in 1902, he had moved his main residence from Charleston to Sullivans Island.

At the time Dr. Patrick built his house, the island was accessible only by ferry from either Charleston or Mount Pleasant. The larger structural timbers for the house were most likely cut and milled in Charleston before being shipped to the island. This is evidenced by the Roman numerals on the timbers near where they are mortised, tenoned and pegged. Several years later, Sullivans Island became accessible by a trolley which ran from Mount Pleasant. On the island the trolley ran east on Central Avenue, turning south at the corner beyond Dr. Patrick's home, on what was then Patrick Street and is now Station 18 1/2 Street, and continued east on Middle Street.

Dr. Patrick was responsible for other buildings on the island as well as his own home, namely the octagonal cottage across Middle Street. It was constructed as a card house and cottage for him and his four sons in which to play cards away from the women of the family. Later it was enlarged and became a residence. On his death Dr. Patrick willed his house to his son Charles, who in turn sold the property to William Bhermann. Bhermann converted the first floor of the house into a tavern, and operated out of the second and third levels what locally became known as the "Moultrieville Brothel." Set just outside the entrance to Fort Moultrie, this house was convenient for military personnel.

About 1920 the house was purchased by a Mrs. Mary Smith and her spinster sisters. The Smiths moved to Sullivans Island from their family home in downtown Charleston, located at the corner of Bast Bay and George streets, where Mr. Smith had operated a grocery. After Mr. Smith's death, his widow and her spinster sisters remodeled the Patrick House, dividing it into three units by closing doors and adding the kitchen and bath wings off the rear. It was at this time also that the small general store which Mrs. Smith operated was constructed. At Mrs. Smith s death the property was passed to a niece. Ethyl Merrill, who with her husband, lived in a quarter of the house until the mid-1970s. A granddaughter of Mrs. Merrill's lived in the downstairs portion for another ten years.

When Hurricane Hugo struck the island on September 21, 1989, the property had been vacant for five years. Portions of the house had not been occupied for fifty years. Having fallen into disrepair caused largely from neglect and damages from the hurricane, the property was acquired in the spring of 1990 by the current owner who then began the task of rehabilitation.