Borough House, Dr. Anderson's Office, State Route 261 & Garners Ferry Road, Stateburg

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS SC,43-STATBU,1B-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Part of the Borough House plantation complex on west siae of State Route 0.8 mile north of intersection of Route 261 and state Route Stateburg, Surnter County, South Carolina U.S.G.S. Wedgefield, SC 7.5 Minute Quadrangle Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) Coordinates: Present Owner Richard K. Anderson The Borough House RFD 3 Box 276 Surnter, South Carolina

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS SC,43-STATBU,1B-. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Dr. Anderson's office is a Greek Revival dependency of the Borough House plantation complex. Built of rammed earth c. it is one of six dependencies (in addition to portions of the main house) to be built of this material. This complex is of potential national significance because of the number of early Greek Revival structures it contains which were built of this unusual material. Dr. Anderson is reputed to be the first American surgeon to perform sucessful surgery for removal of a cancerous jawbone. The procedure took place in and may have been performed in this building. The Borough House complex was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Stateburg Historic Distric in and as an individual site in PART I.

HISTORICAL INFORMATION NOTE: Background material and site history for Dr. Anderson's office may be found in data pages for the Borough House, Stateburg, Surnter County, South Carolina, HABS No. Data specific to Dr. Anderson's office follows below. Dr. Anaerson's Office HABS No. (Page 2) A. PHYSICAL HISTORY 1. DATE OF ERECTION: c. 2. ARCHITECT: The designer of the office is thought to be Dr. William Wallace Anaerson, owner or tne Borough House from to (For further information on Dr. Anderson, see Borough House data pages, p. 6.) 3. ORIGINAL AND SUBSEQUENT OWNERS: see Borough House data pages, pp. 4. BUILDERS AND SUPPLIERS: The office was built chiefly by slaves under the direction of Dr. Anderson. The rammed earth construction method used by Dr.

Anderson was based on a description in Rural Economy by Johnson (New York: Dr. Anderson's copy of this book is in the Borough House library. It is not known whether slave labor or hired workers executed the finish carpentry and interior surfaces. The clay used to build the earth walls was dug on site, and the stones and brick used for foundations and the chimney were also supplied locally. Glazing was undoubtedly purchased, but the supplier is not known. Hardware for the doors may have been made locally. b. ORIGINAL PLANS AND CONSTRUCTION: a. PLANS: No original plans are known to survive. b. CONSTRUCTION: Foundations of the builaing were not examined by HABS and no written data specific to the foundations of this structure were found.

However, the earth in the region is a dense, solid clay, and for this reason the foundations are very likely flagstones superimposed by brick, similar to that observed in for the nearby Church of the Holy Cross (also a rammed earth structure) by Thomas A.H. Miller, a agricultural engineer from the Department of Agriculture's Bureau of Public Roads. Exterior walls are made of rammeo earth, with the chimney on the north side built of brick, integral with the wall. All the rest of the structure is wooden, except for the standing-seam metal roof. The columns are turned from solid heart pine, and the capitals carveo. from single wood blocks. Please see data pages for the Borough House for further discussion of the rammed earth construction method used in this building. Dr.

Anderson's Office HABS No. (Page 3) 6. ALTERATIONS AND ADDITIONS: No alterations or additions to this building are recorded or apparent in the structure. Minor repairs have been made (to such things as cracks in walls and eroded foundations under the columns), and the turned bases of the columns have been extensively chipped and not restored. Electric lighting installed c. is no longer operational. The front porch stylobate was parged with cement in the B. HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND ASSOCIATIONS Please see data pages for the Borough House, pp. PART II. ARCHITECTURAL INFORMATION A. GENERAL STATEMENT: 1. ARCHITECTURAL CHARACTER: The form and plan of this building is that of a Greek temple.

The building consists of one room and a porch with four Ionic columns, and Greek Revivial details are evident in the columns and dentillated cornices. Exterior walls are finished with yellow-tinted stucco that matches that of the main house. Shutters are painted a dark green, all other woodwork except the floor is white. The floor is unfinished, and the sheet metal roof is painted a Venetian red. Rigorous application of classical design principles is evident from measurements of the structure (see page 4). Allowing for construction errors of +/- 1 inch, The building fits in a double cube, and dimensions among principal features are integer multiples of IS inches which also happens to be the wall thickness. There appears to be no attempt to use the Golden Mean in elevation or plan.

The plan, considered to include the porch, is in 2:1 ratio (a double square), while the front elevation (from the porch floor to the roof peak and side to side of the exterior walls) fits a square. The rammed earth walls can be circumscribed in plan by a 3:5 rectangle, which leaves the porch in a 3:1 ratio. The bottom of the entablature is above the porch floor, or 3/5 the overall height of the building. The bottom of the architrave to the soffit is 18 inches. If the roof line is extended from the peak to intersect a line extended from the bottom of the entablature, the result is a 6-foot by 12-foot rectangle, giving a roof slope of The front door is a 2:1 rectangle surmounted by a transom of 3:1 proportions.

The windows appear to be rough 2:1 rectangles, and those on the south wall are each centered from the far end of the wall, or twice the height of the entablature from the porch floor. Dr. Anderson's Oftice HABS No. (Page 4) 1 Dr. Anderson's Office PIABS No. (Page 5) 2. CONDITION OF FABRIC: The exterior walls, foundations, and roof are all sound. Interior finishes, windows, and doors are all intact. The building is actively maintained by its owner. B. DESCRIPTION OF EXTERIOR: 1. OVERALL DIMENSIONS: From the back (west) wall to the centerline of the front porch columns is 30' 0"; width over exterior walls is Height to the roof peak from the porch floor is or about above grade. 2.

FOUNDATIONS: Not visible above grade, except in front, where they are covered by the same stucco finish as the walls. 3. WALL CONSTRUCTION: Rammed earth 4. PORCK: The office has an open, one-story porch on the east side supported by four Ionic columns. The capitals are somewhat crudely executed compared to those at the main house. 5. CHIMNEYS: The single brick chimney serves one fireplace, and is not stuccoed on the exterior to match the walls- 6. OPENINGS: a. DOORWAYS AND BOORS: The building has only one doorway, located in the east side off the front porch. It has a moulded casing and two solid wooden doors, each with three bevelled panels. Over the doors the four-light transom has been replaced by a wooden partition. Door construction is mortise-and-tenon secured by wooden pegs. b.

WINDOWS: There are three nine-over-nine, double-hung wooden sash windows. Each is flanked by two solid, three-panel wooden shutters. 7. ROOF: Single gable. Internal construction not examined by HAES but assumed to be wooden. C. DESCRIPTION OF INTERIOR: 1. FLOOR PLANS: This structure contains a single slightly irregular room/ measuring approximately by 2. FLOORING: The floor is unfinished cypress boards approximately 3/4 inch thick- There is an inaccesible crawl space beneath. Dr. Anderson's Office HABS No. (Page 6) 3. WALL AND CEILING FINISHES: The interior walls are finished in plaster applied directly to the earth walls. The ceiling is finished with a beaded wooden sheathing. 4.

OPENINGS: Windows and the door were described above, but all have deep reveals on the interior due to the 18-inch thickness of the walls. 5. DECORATIVE FEATURES AND TRIM: a. TRIM: The sole trim on the interior is a simple beaded baseboard and a simple molding run around the door and window casings. There is a simple mantelpiece of wood an<5 brick construction. b. HARDWARE: All hardware is wrought iron. The doors are carried on H-L hinges and are fastened by nails. The doors are kept shut by a box lock with iron knobs. Shutter hardware (strap hinges, pintles, and keeps) is also wrought iron, fastened by nails. 6. MECHANICAL EQUIPMENT: The structure contains no mechanical equipment or plumbing. It is fitted with a single overhead lighting socket and several baseboard plugs. D. SITE 1.

GENERAL SITING AND ORIENTATION: The office is located at the northern gate of the Borough Rouse driveway, approximately 15 yards from State Route 261 and 150 yards from the main house. It was built close to the road with the front facing east to provide easy access to patients from the highway. It has no foundation plantings and is surrounded on the south, west, and north sides by lawn. Please see data pages for the Borough House for further description of the surrounding grounds and consult measured drawings of the landscape and site. PART III. SOURCES OF INFORMATION Please see data pages for the Borough House for a complete bibliography PART IV. PROJECT INFORMATION Dr. Anderson's Office was recorded as part of the Borough House recording project.

Please see data pages for the Borough House for the project description