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It's funny to stumble upon a little bit of Bermuda overseas, for example, several properties in the Turks and Caicos Islands strongly resemble traditional Bermudian architecture. In Charleston, South Carolina, a city that has always reminded us of Bermuda (and with good reason: it was founded by settlers from the island) there is a prime example of such a property. Situated on one of Charleston's few remaining cobblestone streets sits the Pink House, a tiny 1,017 square foot single-family home that was built in 1688 by John Breton. It contains one bedroom and two bathrooms laid out over three floors. Said to be one of the oldest stone houses in the city, it was constructed of Bermuda stone which had a natural pink cast hence its name. According to historical reports, Bermuda stone was brought to the city in ships as ballast as well as being imported as a building material. Bermuda stone can also be found in the street's cobblestones.

The Pink House is architecturally one of Charleston's most unique buildings due to the fact that it originally had only one room on each of its three floors. The interior looks very much like many historic homes in Bermuda and its low ceilings and narrow staircase are not typical of Charleston. The first and second floors each have one square room with an oversized fireplace. The third floor is a garret of the same size. Here, the walls slant in following the lines of the gambrel roof, which is one of the few gambrel roofs in the city. The roof of the house is covered in the original terracotta tile, the curved shape of which was said to be formed over the workmen's thighs. Today, the entire upper floor is taken up by the bedroom while the main bathroom is located in the garret.

The house's fireplaces were used for heating and also for cooking. They are unusual as most Charleston homes had separate kitchen buildings in the rear, but there is no evidence of an outdoor kitchen at the Pink House. A small wing on the southeast corner was added in the 1930s and now houses the teal print room and office space. A tiny powder room to the right rear - the first real plumbing for the building - was added in the 1950s. The house features Lowcountry black swamp cypress panelled walls and has wonderful views out of the upstairs windows of St. Philip's Church. Outside, an intimate, high-walled courtyard is filled with a fountain and flowers.

The Pink House was one of the few buildings in Charleston to survive the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in 1989 virtually unscathed. Over the years it has been used variously as a tavern, bordello, publishing business, law office and art gallery.

Images | Zillow
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