301 Redirect » History

Ghost Sign and Rope Lights

robert — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:26:43 +0000

Today David Boatwright, artist and master muralist, painted an exterior sign for 301 King. We decided to leave the back exterior “as is”…..with layers of paint, old Karesh Men’s Wear sign and graffiti….as a bit of tribute to what’s been there before. The new Blue Ion addition wraps around the corner. Hopefully it will wear as well as the rest of the art.

Also, rope lighting is being installed on top of some of the beams. While it lights the ceiling, you don’t actually see the rope lights until you get up on the Mezz floor. More detail on these lights later, but they are very cool. Flexible, glowing….they look like flowing streams of electrical juice.

More History of 301 King

robert — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Matt and Richie (Seamar builder team) shared some of the building history they were able to uncover, including a few cool images and ads. And now we share with you.

A great shot of the front of Karl Karesh Men’s Wear at 301 King…circa 1973.

An ad for Taylor’s Men’s Wear from the 1940 Charleston City Directory (early form of Google?).

A Sanborn Fire Map from 1928 showing the property lines and building footprints (I think…hard to really tell…but it is King and Liberty).

And finally, a 1905 Charleston City Directory ad for Clarke Photography.

Note – we’ll update the previous post of tenants/dates with this new info.

Past Tenants

mike — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 19:19:35 +0000

We’ve had one of our amazing interns scouring the city for historic information about 301 King. So far, we’ve dug up multiple photos of the general area; though we’re still searching for the holy grail of a confirmed direct shot of our building. The above photo is particularly interesting as it shows our old home on King & Wentworth (the cupola in the upper-left corner) as well as a King Street that apparently went one-way north.

Thanks to the Seamar building team history report, and our good friends at Historic Charleston, here is a list of the most recent tenants of 301 King, as found in the Old Codgers’ Charleston Address Book, 1900-1999 and other documentations:

1858 Approximate year built
1859 – 1883 W.H. Boring (imports of segars)
1879 – 1883 Thomas G. Vince (dry goods and retail)
1884 – 1889 Tine Ware and Tin Shop
1890 – 1898 JA LePrince House Furnishings
1899 – 1917 Robert Teskey (groceries), W.D. Clarke, The Photographer
1918 – 19(31-37) Clarke’s Studio, American Meat Market
1938 – 1939 The Clarke Studio, Dixie Food Market, Claude S. Latimer (dentist)
1940 – 1949 Taylor’s Men’s Wear
1950 – 1967 Taylor’s Mens’s Wear, Freeman Charleston Shoes Inc.
1968 – 1972 Taylor’s Men’s Wear, Century Realty Company
1973 – 1991 Karl Karesh Men’s Wear
1992 – 1993 Simple Charleston Gifts, The RSVP Shop, Made To Measure Shirts
1994 – 1995 The RSVP Shop
1996 – 1999 Grannies Goodies

and now in the 21st century…

2000 – 2007 Cumberland’s (music club/bar/restaurant), Grannies Goodies
2008 Apple (first floor)
2009 Blue Ion (second floor)

Front Entrance

robert — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 01:10:03 +0000

A shot of what will be the front entrance for Blue Ion HQ….from an alley right off of Liberty Street. The old mural for Hart Schaffner Marx is pretty sweet. It’s peeling and in bad shape, so we’ll need to see what we do with it. Apparently, Hart Schaffner Marx is President Obama’s #1 suit brand…..at least according to the LA Times. That would make sense, as the company was founded in Chicago and is 100% American made.

We are working to dig up information on past tenants, owners, etc…so stay tuned for some historic posts.