Col. John Ashe House, Georgian mansion on South Battery, Charleston, United States.
The Col. John Ashe House is a Georgian double house built of black cypress at 32 South Battery, standing on Lot 45 of the Grand Model Plan subdivision. A three-story piazza runs the full width of its southern facade, facing White Point Garden, and a cupola sits on the hipped roof.
The house's construction date is unknown; it was built around 1782 on Lot 45 of the Grand Model Plan subdivision. It was renovated in the 1930s. A. Kinloch McDowell bought it in December 1937 and sold it in 1944 to Ashmead F. Pringle, Jr., vice-president of the Merchants Fertilizer Co.
The house is named for Col. John Ashe, a Revolutionary-era figure, though the sources do not record how the name attached to the 1782 building. Its three-story piazza runs the full width of the south facade, facing White Point Garden, and the hipped roof carries a cupola. The house remains privately owned as of 2025.
The house at 32 South Battery is a private residence and is not open to visitors; it can only be seen from the street. Its three-story piazza faces White Point Garden across South Battery, so the facade is best viewed from the park side. The surrounding streets of the lower peninsula are walkable, and the garden itself is a public space.
The residence holds a special place in modern Charleston real estate history, having sold in 2015 for a price that broke all previous records for residential properties in the city. This sale made it a marker of rising property values in this historic neighborhood.
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