James Nicholson House, historic house in South Carolina, United States

The James Nicholson House is a single-family home in Charleston, South Carolina, built around 1816 in the Classical Revival style and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building features white stuccoed brick walls on a high rough stone basement, two main floors, and a front portico supported by four large Ionic columns with Renaissance capitals, while the roof displays a triangular pediment with decorative dentil molding and Gothic triptych windows.

Built around 1816 for Patrick Duncan, the house passed to James Nicholson in 1829 and to James R. Pringle in 1838. After Pringle's death his family sold it in 1845 to George Trenholm, later Confederate Secretary of the Treasury. From 1877 to 1909 it belonged to the family of banker Charles Otto Witte, and in 1909 it became Ashley Hall school.

The house is named for James Nicholson, its owner from 1829 to 1838. Since 1909 it has housed Ashley Hall, a girls' school, and the building is tied to Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind: Rhett Butler and other characters were based on residents of the house, and the O'Hara plantation was modeled on its grounds.

The house can only be viewed from the outside since it remains in private ownership and is not open to the public. The stately facade with its classical columns and details is nevertheless clearly visible from the street and offers a visual impression of early Charleston architecture.

Margaret Mitchell drew on the house's residents for Gone with the Wind: Rhett Butler and other characters were modelled on people who lived here, and the O'Hara plantation was based on its grounds. The house was built around 1816 for Patrick Duncan, and William Jay, active in Charleston and Savannah from 1817 to 1822, is cited as a possible architect.