Sottile House Shines at Night!

Walking to my car Monday night after my College of Charleston class I stopped and admired the old Sottile House at 11 College St. The beautiful yellow Victorian mansion dates to 1890 but looks better than ever, especially at night.

With some processing tools from Snapseed, a free photo editing app, I created this image, which adds to the beauty of the elegant structure. Not bad for an iPhone 7 picture, right?

Nighttime Capture- love the lighting!

The next image is without as much HDR processing. It also shows the distinctive white and round street sign that was there when the house was constructed 128 years ago.

There is writing on the round post- I'll try to add that to this post soon

You also see the unusual signpost in this 1892 photo of the house, just a couple years or so after construction.  I shared this image with someone on Facebook who wondered if the house had been moved at some point. The sign indicates otherwise.

1892 Photograph (Wikipedia)

The house has had an interesting history. It was built by a prominent Charleston banker and merchant named Samuel Wilson. See this interesting Charleston magazine article about his Charleston Teapot emporium he opened on King Street in 1873.

After Wilson died, the home was purchased by Albert Sottile, who would start Charleston's first movie house, the Sottile Theatre, on George Street in the early 1920s. The Sottile Theater, also part of the college, exists and flourishes to this day.  The College of Charleston acquired the Sottile House, which is also called the Wilson-Sottile House, in 1964. It was used for years as housing for female undergraduates.

I worked in this lovely place in the early 1990s when I was associate director of the school's College Relations office.  My office was in a special spot: the top left turret that can be seen in the above image.

For more on the history of this premiere Victorian structure, see this article written by College of Charleston public relations staffer Erin Perkins a few years ago.

As an aside, I posted the first photo you see on Facebook. I put it on two specialty site, "Charleston History Before 1945" and "South Carolina Picture Project." I know this is the kind of photo and story members of these sites might enjoy and appreciate. I also posted it on my regular Facebook feed.

I am intrigued by the "reactions" the Sottile House photo has and continues to receive two days after the posting. On "South Carolina Picture Project" the "reactions" just surpassed 300 with 10 comments and 19 shares. On "Charleston History Before 1945" the "likes" or "reactions" is at 266 as I write this, with 22 comments. (Total update: at 597 today- Friday, Nov. 30)

On my Facebook feed by itself (not specialty sites) I have had two measly likes. But they are from my wife and son Joseph (who graduated from CofC). So much for my Facebook "Friends" I guess is my takeaway.

As a communication professor who teaches, among other things, social/new media content creation and dissemination, this is a good learning tool.  I wrote about another post along these lines last month.  Check it out here.