Edmondston-Alston House, Regency-style house in Charleston, United States

The Edmondston-Alston House is a three-story brick and stucco house at 21 East Battery, built between 1820 and 1828 in the English Regency style. Its east-facing front looks over the High Battery promenade and Charleston harbor. Inside, an open plan of two large rooms per floor with smaller adjoining spaces holds Alston family furniture, silver and 19th-century decorative arts.

Charles Edmondston, a ship merchant from the Shetland Islands, bought the low sandy lot in 1817 and began building after Charleston raised a sea wall in 1820; the house was finished between 1820 and 1828 in the English Regency style. Charles Alston bought it in 1837. From the back piazza in April 1861, General P.T. Beauregard watched the bombardment of Fort Sumter.

The house keeps furnishings and portraits of the Alston family, who bought it in 1837 and ran rice plantations on the Combahee River. A look at the 1838 Alston family Bible and the rice-farming tools on display shows how the household's wealth came from enslaved labour.

The house sits in a historic neighborhood with sidewalks along the bay and is easily reachable on foot. Visitors should wear comfortable shoes since the stairs between floors are steep and the house spans multiple stories.

From the house's back piazza, General P.T. Beauregard watched the bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the event that sparked the Civil War. This moment made the building a place where a pivotal moment in American history was directly witnessed.