Rev. Paul Trapier Gervais House

The land was owned in the early 19th century by Isaac Parker whose estate sold it in 1835 to Rev. Paul Trapier Gervais.^[1] Rev. Gervais paid $5000 for the lot that was 105' on Legare Street and 280' deep.^[2] Rev. Gervais had been ordained in 1807 in New York, but in 1810, he relocated to rural Johns Island, a sea island south of Charleston, South Carolina.^[3] Johns Island had not had an Episcopal rector for twenty years and had no church; Rev. Gervais organized the congregation, and St. John's Protestant Episcopal Church opened in 1817.^[3]

Writer Josephine Pinckney, one of the most prominent leaders of the Charleston Renaissance, was born in the house on January 25, 1895, to her parents Thomas Pinckney and Camilla Scott-Pinckney.^[1][4]

Gaud School for Boys--which merged with another school to form Porter-Gaud School--was formed at this house with classes held in a brick dependency in the rear. The school, which opened on October 1, 1908, was originally known as the Charleston School and operated at the house as both a boarding and day school for boys.^[5]

In November 2020, the house sold for $11,000,000 and became the most expensive house to sell in Charleston; it held that recorded less than a year when the another house on the same street, 10 Legare Street, sold fore more.^[6]

32°46′24″N 79°56′03″W / 32.773289°N 79.934237°W / 32.773289; -79.934237