The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 102

The a State Living Columbia, South Carolina Drawings Katherine Hodge 'Antique' Inn Offers Flavor Of The 1700's By RON WENZELL State Staff Writer CHARLESTON A 130-year-old building which formerly housed retail shops and a roller skating rink has been converted into one of Charleston's newest inns. Kings Courtyard Inn at 198 King St. opened this month in the heart of the port city's antique district, and in conjunction with the opening is sponsoring antique symposiums each Saturday through Dec. 10. "Architecture is the number one thing we have going for us," said Richard T.

Widman, the inn's majority partner and manager. "People visit Charleston because of its historic significance, and what we've done is take an old, dilapidated building and transformed it into an elegant inn offering all the modern conveniences while preserving historic integrity." Erected in 1853 in the Greek revivial style with Egyptian detail, the three-story building is one of the oldest and largest i in the block. The two upper floors were originally used as an inn, catering to visiting plantation owners and shipping magnates. High-quality shops occupied the ground floor. In later years, millinery, grocery, and antique stores were among the building's tenants, and in the 1930s the third floor became an indoor skating rink.

Much of the original flooring is 08 Ron State Chet Kellogg, guest lecturer Antiques, subject of Charleston symposium Bill McDonald State Columnist Unforgettable Time I am terrible about recalling names, and dates are beyond me, and besides, I'm not so sure they are all that important. But what I do remember, and shall remember all the days of my life, is the day that John F. Kennedy was shot. Where I was living at the time, the news flashed instantly. Television sets clicked on.

Sunday, November 20, 1983 INTO Rooms in the Inn have 18th century reproduction furniture and no two Some rooms overlook the courtyard, some have fireplaces and some are for nonsmokers. still intact as well as stairways, window casings and moldings, and the building's facade. "There are a lot of new motels and inns coming out of the ground so we knew that we would have to come up with something different," Widman said. What he and his partners, Charleston architects Kenneth A. Gifford and Harold Nielson, wanted, Widman said, "was something light and airy, and very Southern.

We looked at a lot of property before deciding on 198 King, but as soon as we saw it we knew this was it. The 34-room inn, which took more than eight months to complete, and had six design changes, features two inner courtyards in the center of the building. The skylights were already there. The courtyard garden is being landscaped with potted plants, and semi-tropical plants and seasonal flowers around small fountains. Fourteen rooms are ready for occupancy with the rest scheduled to be ready by the end of November along with a large Jacuzzi pool.

Accomodations include 18 rooms with king-size beds, and 16 queen size, eight of which are canopied. There are six rooms on the first floor and 14 each on the second and third. There will be a honeymoon room on the first floor opening into a private garden and terrace. Half the rooms overlook the courtyards and the others have an A series of antique symposiums is being held Charleston on Saturdays at 1 p.m. through series is Chet Kellogg, who, with his wife, port city.

The symposiums are being sponsored a new inn that features 18th century excellent view of King Street. The rooms have 18th century reproduction furniture, and no two are exactly alike. Each room has a large French wardrobe made of hickory, and similar to the ones found in Charleston houses in the 17th and 18th centuries. Nine of the rooms have original fireplaces which have been converted to gas. The entire second floor will be reserved for nonsmokers.

"We are going to try it and see how it works," Widman said. "Even the people working on the second floor will be nonsmokers." The inn has a full kitchen, but will serve only breakfast to begin with. at Kings Courtyard Inn in Dec. 10. Guest lecturer for the: owns an antique shop in the by Kings Courtyard Inn, reproduction furniture.

A Look At The Historic By RON WENZELL State Staff Writer CHARLESTON Charleston has taken its reputation as the unofficial antique capital of the state out of mothballs, and is parading it before the public in a series of Saturday afternoon symposiums continuing through Dec. 10. The symposiums are being sponsored by Kings Courtyard Inn, a new tourist hostelry in the heart of the city's antique district, and have the support of many of the neighborhood antique dealers including Ariga IV, George C. Birlants Coles Company Estate Atiques, Garden Gate, John Gibson Company, Golden and Associates, Period Antiques, and 1 The Red Torii. Chet Kellogg is the guest lecturer for the first series of symposiums.

A native of Indiana, he and his wife, Claire, own Period Antiques. He became interested in antiques as a teenager, and operated a small antique shop in New York before moving to Charleston four years ago. "We only opened on weekends. It was more a hobby then anything else, but good training for learning the business," he said. And the insanity of it all was mind-boggling.

And as I write now, I'm still not any closer to remembering EVERY detail, but I shall never forget where I was that day. I had just taken my lunch break from Bloomingdale's in Manhattan and had gone to Central Park to eat a sandwich. It was one of those carefree lunchbreaks the day balmy. And the Kennedy news that greeted me on my return to work was utterly insane: "President Kennedy's been shot!" THE DETAILS were sketchy. Later, when are alike "We are within easy walking distance of 40 of Charleston's finest restaurants," Widman said, "and.

most of our guests will be away from the inn in the afternoon and evenings. We can always add a lunch and dinner menu Breakfast can be ordered in the room or eaten in the dining room or courtyards. Afternoon and evening cocktails will be served in the courtyard lounge. Personal touches include complimentary wine, sherry, coffee or tea upon arrival, and brandy and chocolate with bed turn-down service in tha room at night. See Inn, 3-E Past.

Kellogg said that be it furniture, glass, sculpture, painting, porcelain, or whatever, to qualify as an antique, "it must have some age, quality and integrity of period There are diehards, he said, who maintain that unless it is older than 1830 it is not an antique, but the United States Customs Service has decreed that for purposes of paying a duty, anything older than 100 is an antique. Most of Charleston's stores deal in 18th and 19th century English antiques as well as American, French and Oriental. The great periods of English furniture design were William and Mary (1688-1702), Queen Anne (1702-1714), Early Georgian (1714-1760), George III (1760-1793), Regency and George IV (1793-1830), William IV (1830-1837), Victoria (1837-1901), and Late Victorian, which is considered to be the beginning of modern design. William and Mary furniture is noted for the development of veneering and the baroque style, Queen Anne for its cabriole legs, Early Georgian for the ball and claw foot which originated in the Orient and was sym- the chilling words finally came "He's dead" Bloomingdale's quietly closed and its employees hurried home to sit in front of their TV sets. Some of you will ask, of course: what good is there in recalling the horror of something like John F.

Kennedy's assassination? Remembering the solemn funeral in Washington? Perhaps there is none. Except that tragedy is part of our human existance. It is, as an old reporter friend of mine once wrote, "life's genuflection to the inevitable." A little of all of us was locked up in John F. Kennedy. His accent.

His boyish charm and good looks. His "Irish Mafia." The belief among us that finally at long last, what with all the stodgy pretensions of the Presidency here was a man with style and substance. 0 WHAT CAME through most strikingly after Kennedy's death, to me, was the deep feeling that the people of this country had for their departed leader. It was a striking thing, too, and symbolic bolic of a dragon clutching a pearl, George III for the introduction of satinwood, Regency and George IV for the saber leg and rectangle back, Victoria for the beginning of manchine-crafted furniture, and Late Victorian for its Japanese influence. The leaders in English furniture design were Thomas Chippendale, Robert Adam, George Hepplewhite, Thomas Sheraton, Thomas Hope, William Morris, Sir Charles Eastlake, and Charles Rennie MacIntosh.

"There is a tendency in America to be interested only in American antiques," Kellogg said, "and the English want only English antiques. There's nothing wrong with wanting what has been made in your own country, but this can be carried too far if it means overlooking exquisite designs from other parts of the world." The history of America's furniture industry is closely connected with English design, he said. The periods are Colonial (1607-1776), Early American (1607-1800), Federal (1776-1820), Late Federal, American Empire and Southern Colonial (1820-1860), and American Victorian (1837-1901). "Some of the great names of early of how deeply people felt, that a lot of these people turned to poetry to express their grief. One poem I know quite well almost by heart.

It was written by a friend of mine, Bill Mahoney of Columbia, and later mailed to his home state newspaper, The Boston Globe, one of the top Mahoney newpapers in this country. The Globe editors were deluged by poems after the assassination And grief, to be expected, was the predominant note. The editors observed: "It is remarkable, and indeed a tribute to the common sense and good judgement of most people everywhere, that in all this emotional mail, there was not American design were Lannuier of New York, Quervelle of Philadelphia, Joseph Meeks of New York, and John Hall of Baltimore," he said, "with Frank Lloyd Wright, the Stickley brothers, L. C. Tiffany and Charles Eames coming along later." The differences between English and American antiques are both real and imagined, he said.

The claim is that American antiques are made from native woods rather than imported, and are painted instead of lacquered, adorned with stenciling and gilding rather than brass inlay and bronze mounts, have painted decorations instead of inlay and marguetry, and come with drawers that have rough undersides. Not all of the claims are necessarily valid, however, he said. "The wood is one sure way to tell an English antique from an American, because English oak and walnut is different from American oak and walnut. The trick is knowing which is which, and there aren't many who can tell." Another series of symposiums begins February 4, and will continue through March 10. They will be hosted again by Kings Courtyard Inn.

a single these it isn't the editors the It was Sir." after touches more. knew you. keep, more. note of hate. "There also was no pretension, in any of letters, to writing great poetry.

'I know one wrote, 'but I thought it was least I could 0 AMONG THE hundreds of poems, the picked one that seemed to stand out most that "speaks for all the people." Bill Mahoney's poem, "We're Sorry And today, almost 20 years to the day John F. Kennedy's assassination, it still the heart: "We're sorry, sir; we cannot say much "We only know that suddenly we're poor. "The dreaming and the visions that we "Are blurred by tears a nation sheds for "But if we keep the faith you'd have us "We must awaken now because you sleep. "We're sorry, sir; we cannot say much 0 "We only know that suddenly we're poor.".