Memminger House

Front: Christopher Memminger (1803-1888) lived in a home at this site as early as 1830. A German immigrant orphaned at age 4, Memminger was adopted by future S.C. Governor Thomas Bennett. Memminger served in the S.C. legislature and championed public education before and after the Civil War. He helped draft the Confederate Constitution and was the Confederacy’s Secretary of the Treasury 1861-1864. He returned to Charleston after the war and lived here until his death. Reverse: John McAlister was one of the city’s first licensed embalmers and began an undertaking business on Meeting St. in the 1880s. In 1960, McAlister Funeral Home moved to this location and replaced the Memminger House with a purpose-built funeral home designed by Charleston architect Augustus Constantine (1898-1976). Its design offered a modern interpretation of the Colonial Revival style. It was razed in 2016.