July, 1887.] ELLIOTT SOCIETY. 143 



to tlie Northwest of the C-ity, which stretches across the State from Hamburg, 

 through Cohimbia and Camden, to Cheraw on the Pee Dee Piver. . 



The general dii'ection of the wmd is from the S., S. E. and S. W. One will 

 find upon streets running IST. and S. most of the buildings with their gables 

 fronting the street, and upon the streets having an East and West direction, 

 while the houses located upon the North side show their true front to the street, 

 those on the South side will again push their gables to the street, here selecting 

 the West as a favorite position for their fronts. . . . The majority 

 of the dwellings are of frame, from two to three stories in height ; the remain- 

 er are of brick. Not one-half dozen stone buildings can be recalled. The store- 

 houses and places of business are built in the same manner as similar structures 

 in all American cities and are often in continuous blocks. 



It is of imjDortance to state that the site of Charleston was originally cut up 

 by creeks and marshes, and these have been filled up continuously as the value 

 of lands increased, so that now it may be roughly estimated that one-sixth of 

 its thirty-six hundred acres consists of what is termed 'made land.' In build- 

 ing upon the made land it is usual to pile the foundation more or less. 



It is a mistake to suppose that the framed dwellings upon 

 made land escaped uninjured, the reverse is generally true, the imder-pinning 

 of their brick masonry was fractured repeatedly, the cisterns, also of brick ma- 

 sonry, were often crushed in, particularly in their arched tops, and oftener 

 cracked through the key line. The frame houses were in some instances taken 

 on the West end bodily seven inches to the South, and, in the same neighbor- 

 hood, Council and Limehouse Streets, frames would be seen which had moved 

 to the North three and one-half inches. It was observed also that the North 

 and South horizontal swing woiild throw the building, chimnies included, so 

 rapidly to the South that, apparently, the underpinning being more easily over- 

 turned upon its base than fractured, it would cant over with the superimposed 

 building attached, but not, however, so far as to biing the structure to the 

 earth. The flooring joists in these buildings frequently slid two or three inches 

 horizontally from the sills, and the plastering of the gable walls and of all walls 

 parallel with the gable were much fractured ; it was observed also that the 

 plastering of the walls gave away more readily than that of the ceiling. It 

 was found in some instances that the foundations of the chimnies, say from 4 

 to 6 feet from the gi'ound, were destroyed, and in the residence of one gentle- 

 man, it was found that neither of his chimnies had tops or foundations, the 

 whole wrecked construction being held in position by the framing of the dwell- 

 ing. Frame dwellings of good construction which were located upon the ordi- 

 nary soil of the City suffered no apparent injury, except in the plastering and 

 chimney caps. 



The brick dwellings of the City should be divided into two classes, the one 

 consisting of those well and thoroughly built, and the other of poor material 

 and of unskillful workmanship. 



Poor brick houses upon made land were thoroughly shattered, well made 

 buildings upon natural soil were usually cracked only in the gables. 



Brick storehouses in blocks, or hxiilt \\ith their flank walls touching those of 



