Clark Mills Studio, Sculptor studio in Charleston, United States.
Clark Mills Studio is a four-story stuccoed brick building at 51 Broad Street, on the south side just west of Church Street. Its ground floor has storefronts, and projecting bay windows mark the second and third floors. Built as a tenement house, it was converted into professional offices around 1900.
Clark Mills rented this Broad Street tenement space in 1837 and ran his studio and residence there until 1848, when he moved to Washington, D.C., after winning the contract to cast the Andrew Jackson equestrian statue. The self-taught Mills is believed to have made his first major work here, a marble bust of John C. Calhoun. The building was named a National Historic Landmark in 1965.
The building began as a tenement house; in the 1830s one tenant, Erastus Bulkeley, sold marble from a nearby yard. When the other tenant left in 1837, Mills rented the space for his home and studio. It is believed he made his first significant work here, a marble bust of South Carolina politician John C. Calhoun.
The building is located in downtown Charleston and is easily reached on foot, though it sits somewhat away from the main walking routes. Access is from Broad Street, where you can view the characteristic bay windows of the structure from the outside.
The Jackson statue was not made here: Mills moved to Washington in 1848 with eleven enslaved workers, among them the craftsman Philip Reid, and cast it there in 1852. The Broad Street building had earlier been a tenement house, and one former tenant, Erastus Bulkeley, sold marble from a nearby yard.
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