Stevens-Lather House

Front: Built c.1843, this was home to the family of Samuel and Mary Stevens. In 1870, Col. Richard Lathers bought the home and had architect John Henry Devereux make major alterations in the Second Empire Style. Lathers was a pro-slavery Unionist who worked in N.Y. before the Civil War. Hoping to promote sectional reconciliation, he hosted joint gatherings of prominent white southerners and northerners here before selling the house in 1874. Reverse: On April 21, 1920, a group of citizens gathered here under the leadership of Susan Pringle Frost and formed the Society for the Preservation of Old Dwellings, the first locally based historic preservation group in the U.S. The society was instrumental to the creation of the nation’s first historic district in 1931. In 1956, the group was renamed the Preservation Society of Charleston to reflect a widening mission.