Nathaniel Russell House

As an architecture buff, I love touring old homes. And this is one of the best I’ve had a chance to visit. The Nathaniel Russell House is striking on the outside with it’s beautiful brick façade and quaint park-​like gardens, but it’s the inside of this place that really shines and is totally worth the price of admission if you’re into architecture or history or just enjoy seeing pretty things built for rich people. The work done to restore this home is superb and thank goodness for it, as there are some real gems to see here. Most notably that incredible cantilevered staircase. How’d they build such a thing back in the early 1800s? Who knows, but it’s just as impressive as everyone says.

I loved this museum. I’m a history buff myself. They have a huge gift shop. The spiral staircase was amazing. Be sure to check out the other historic houses in the area.

This is a great old house. The tour guide was obnoxious and tiresome. She seemed not to trust anyone in out your group. She should have stayed in the gift shop and let us wonder and enjoy! The gardens are great.

Though my Monday morning routine starts with Aqua-​Logix at LTP Swim Club, I was hard pressed to decline when our next door neighbors asked if we wanted to join them for a tour of the Nathaniel Russell House located at 51 Meeting Street. «Sure!» I replied, followed by my usual question when thinking about going downtown, «What’s the parking situation at 9:30 A.M.?» Well, rather than taking our chances to secure street parking, I opted (I was the driver) to park in the Charleston County Municipal Parking Garage on Queen Street as surely, we’d have no problem so early in the day. While it may come as no surprise to you … I was wrong … the entire garage was full except for a few remaining outside spots on the roof. After finally finding a spot that I could get my car into (don’t you hate when someone parks over the lines and takes up two spots?) we proceeded down many flights of stairs (there’s no elevator on Level 9) and enjoyed our brisk,
.3 mile walk to the House. I knew that each docent-​led tour is limited to 15 at a time. Several people were already queing up outside the closed Tour Ticket entrance when we arrived at 9:50. Due to the temperature, a kind member of the staff opened the door to let us in before 10:00 which was a good thing because I needed to visit the ‘little girl’s room’ … which was immaculate, BTW. When purchasing the tickets ($ 12.00/each for the 30+ minute tour) we were advised that if we thought we might have any interest in touring the Rhett-​Aiken House in the future, we should save and present our paid receipt (s) to receive a $ 6 discount on the $ 12.00 tour ticket price. This tour, limited to the first two of three floors, started off with the ground rules … no touching and no pictures except in a small room off the gift shop. How disappointing; however, I should have anticipated this constraint due to the (what should have been obvious) limited scope of pictures that were posted on Unilocal.Maxwell Mowry, our erudite and competent docent, was a fantastic guide who led us through the lives and lifestyles of the upper-​class families who were fortunate enough to live in the stately, Federal-​style ’ town house’ from the time it was completed in 1808, until its sale to the Charleston Historic Society in 1955. Classified as a restoration (as opposed to a preservation), the curators of this historic site have done a superb job to research, secure and present interior décor and home furnishings, including, but not limited to, wall, window and floor treatments, accessories, tableware and even paint colors true to the period. We all enjoyed the tour and look forward to our next glimpse into the history of this wonderful city that we now call home.

Really enjoyed all of the houses we went thru in Charleston. Each of them offered something a little different so it was worth it to see many of them.

Yup, a National Historic Landmark for a reason, and preserved well.

Awful tour guide and you can’t see all parts of the house or walk on the famous staircase. Also the detailing is cheap painted on moulding in many rooms. Original or not it’s still cheap. There are better houses

HIGHLY recommend. Fantastic guided tour with lots of details. Tour guide was responsive to questions. He reminded me of someone on TV. Ye olde Charleston kind of guy. The house was fabulous. I very much appreciate all that Charleston has done to preserve history (whether we like it or not, it is what it is), and the amount of dedicated restoration in this city is amazing.

Whenever I travel to a new city, whether it be for business or pleasure, I always trust in Unilocal to show me the best local attractions. So while in Charleston, SC a few months ago, Unilocal pointed me in the direction of the Nathaniel Russell House.
The Nathaniel Russell House is a 9,600 square feet historic house located at 51 Meeting Street in Charleston, SC. It was built by merchant Nathaniel Russell in 1808, and is considered one of America’s most important Neoclassical houses. It was built in the Federal style, which was popular between 1780 – 1830. I’m no architect, but trust me when I say it’s a cool house /​museum and is worth the price of admission.
The house was constructed of Carolina gray brick and was built to emphasize the height of the house. This impressive height is definitely appreciated when you are standing just outside the brick and wrought iron fence from the sidewalk and you are cranking your neck upwards.
The house is decorated/​preserved/​restored to its original grandeur and is as lavish as any mansion on St. Charles Avenue. Upon entering, your eyes are immediately drawn to the cantilevered spiral staircase, that ascends to the third floor. There is elaborate plaster moldings covered with 24-​karat gold leaf everywhere.
In the rear of the house is the two-​story slave quarters that housed many of the estimated 18 slaves that were at the Nathaniel Russell House.
The Historic Charleston Foundation purchased the National Historic Landmark in 1955 and the house and grounds are meticulously maintained. The Nathaniel Russell House is open, Mon-​Sat, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sun, 2 – 5 p.m. (last tour begins at 4:30 p.m.). Tickets are $ 12 adults; $ 5 children 6 – 16; under six free.
The only disappointment is that NO interior pictures are allowed. However, I purchased a book in the gift shop and now have an affordable copy of all the highlights of this marvelous structure.

If you have some time to spare while visiting Charleston, or if you are a local looking for something different to do on the weekend, I recommend swinging by this home.
The $ 12 per person tour is well worth it, as you get to spend about 30 minutes learning the history of the home with your tour guide. Mr. Mowry, you truly are something special. Thank you for sharing your knowledge of the home and it’s inhabitants with us!
As most historical properties in Charleston, this property is classified as a restoration, not a preservation like Drayton Hall. Thus, there is furniture in the home, and the walls have been painted what they believe to be the original colors. They are even currently in the process of having carpet woven in England and shipped over to be put in one of the upstairs rooms. It is really neat to hear about the museum curators and how much research and time is put in to figure out what the home used to look like, and how to recreate it.
The spiral staircase is what everyone thinks is the star of the show, but to me, it is the painting on the landing of the 2^nd story that is the true star.

This was a really cool thing to see. Generally NOT a fan of museums, but this tour was quick, informative and showed a really stunning home. Air conditioned, $ 12/​pp and a tour guide, Joy, who was a 20 year vet made it an enjoyable experience. Would definitely recommend to others visiting.

A beautiful home that is tastefully restored. A guided tour allowed vistors to view what life was like in Charleston during the 19^th century.
The rooms contain furniture that is period appropriate but was not owned by Nathaniel Russell himself. The Grand Spiral Staircase is truly an architectural wonder!

Excellent tour. Well preserved, historical site. The foundation clearly cares about the history and architecture this building presents. The tour guide easily answered questions and engaged children.

If you want to see what the inside of an old restored mansion looked like and get a history lesson, this is a good choice. However I fail to see how anyone, except the most enthusastic history wonks, could give this place/​tour 5 stars.
The knowledge of the tour guide was exteremely impressive and they were thereby very informative. 5 stars. However minus 1 star for a couple of things:
— You don’t get to tour the entire house (the third floor and the basement, if there is one.)
— The tour is heavily focused on the furniture. Not a bad things but I think the amount of time talking about the furniture was a bit unbalanced for what the average person on the tour would like to hear. More about the house, family, and local history and a little less about the furniture would be better in my opinion but I admit, I’m nitpicking here.
— Tour guide didn’t cover the bouncing board out back. We later found out about it on a separate walking tour.

The Nathaniel Russel House is a must see in Charleston. My friend and I had not been planning to stop here but we saw the sign. It turned out to be one of the best places we toured.
There is plenty of information on the walls to read prior to starting the tour. You can learn a good amount of information about the merchants who came together.
The tour guide was especially helpful and knowledgeable about the architecture, interior design, and the interpretation of history.
There is an incredible staircase that needs to be seen inside of this house.

Of the two mansions/​houses we toured, this was my favorite. Even though the tour guides say they’re not 100% correct on some of the staging of the rooms, they did their best to recreate what would have been in place when the house was occupied.
I felt you got a lot more history with this tour as compared to the Calhoun Mansion. This one seemed to have a lot more natural light coming into the house as well; I love natural light lighting up a room. Granted there wasn’t as much ‘stuff’ in this house so I’m sure that helped, but it definitely seemed to have more windows.
You really get to admire this house more for the architecture; especially as you learn when/​how it was built. Sometimes more is more, but sometimes less is still more.

My mom and I took a really beautiful walk from the Battery to the Russell House and decided to take the tour starting 5 minutes after we arrived on a lark. It was such a beautiful home and the tour was led by an informative and engaging guide.
I’ll admit the tour probably isn’t for everyone — if you appreciate architecture, history or design you’ll most definitely have a great time. If you bore easily or need something more exciting to occupy your time… maybe take a pass. It was about a 45 minute walk around a house. You look at some rooms. Learn the history behind the rooms and the city. That’s it. And I loved it!
It was a great way to understand the history of Charleston as told through one particular historic home — the way it was built, what happened within its walls, and what happened to to the people who occupied it.

Beautiful home, undoubtedly. However, I really wanted to know more about the man and family behind the home. There was very little the docent could tell us about Nathaniel Russell. Kind of disappointing. Still, the house was beautifully embellished and the docent was excellent.

This exquisitely restored, 200-​year-​old mansion just a couple blocks north of the Battery is one of Charleston’s true historic treasures. Our tour of the gardens and interior rooms took under an hour, and was very informative. Architecture buffs will appreciate the floating staircase, as well as the artistic details in the woodwork and mantelpieces. This home truly offers a window back in time to Charleston’s glory days and a glimpse of the lifestyle of one of its wealthiest residents. Well worth the visit!

This restored and preserved mansion is MAGNIFICENT. The furniture pieces are not original but rather true to the period. The floating staircase is quite amazing.
During our tour, we learned that all the wood in the house is pine and painted to either look like marble or a more expensive type of wood. The front door is fabulous and this house is included on architectural tours and people in our group wanted to know what type of wood it was. The guide knew it was painted but did not know it was pine. She appreciated that tidbit.
The tour includes all the rooms on the first and second floors. Learning how each room was utilized by the owners gave us great insight into how life was lived and enjoyed at that time in history. The family history is also covered and we were surprised to learn that currently, there are no paintings of Mrs. Russell. Their 2 daughters, sons-​in-​law, and Mr. Russell and the family tree are available to read in the detached house that served as a kitchen and slave quarters.