Few modern architecture aficionados know that Frank Lloyd Wright designed a complete plantation, located in South Carolina's low country: Auldbrass in Beaufort County, near the town of Yemassee.
Known since 1736 as Mount Pleasant, Wright renamed the property Auldbrass (from "Old Brass") and designed the (smallish) main house, stables and other buildings for an industrial engineer, Leigh Stevens, who had joined five parcels to form the plantation.
After quite a tumultuous ownership history – last in line a club of local hunters with little interest in modern architecture or preservation – movie producer Joel Silver ("Matrix", "Hudson Hawk", Die Hard", "Lethal Weapon" etc.) bought the property in 1986 for $148,000. With a permanent staff of ten including an architect, Mr. Silver since has sunk considerable funds into preserving and restoring Auldbrass, as well as finishing buildings designed by Wright but never built.
The plantation is open to the public every two years for only two days, thus tickets sell out within days of becoming available. During this year's window, I was able to visit Auldbrass on November 3rd with a fun troupe from NCMH, the North Carolina non-profit for the preservation of modern architecture.
The wait to get in was well over 1.5 hours – no timed tickets, yet – so I unfortunately did not have a chance to see every building; in addition, interior photos are strictly (and understandably so)
verboten by the owner.
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| Entry |
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| Path to the main house |
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| Main house, pool on the right, entry on the far left |
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| Dining room on the left, main house adjacent to the right |
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| Dining room shows angled walls and copper rain spouts |
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| Kitchen windows details |
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| Clerestory windows, main house with 2 bedrooms, 2 baths |
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| Window detail, main house |
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| Window detail, dining room |
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| Dining room from opposite side |
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| Angled walls at bedrooms (not to be entered by the public) |
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| Pool and main house |
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| Stables |
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| Gate |
More details about Auldbrass and South Carolina plantations can be found
here. If you have visited Auldbrass, I'd love to hear your impressions!
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All photos ©tckaiser
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