Guillard-Bennet House Tour

Bob takes a peek into the elegantly appointed Guillard-Bennet House, one of the jewels in Charleston's crown.
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Guillard-Bennet House Tour

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" Wow. Quite space and -- This is Charleston double house but it's not typical double house because it's not a square box we've got the living room in the dining room. But in the back it forms -- T and this is the band. And know the kitchen. The detailing in here remarkable I've never seen a ceiling medallion that was a rectangle like this kind of she shell raisers. Well that three of them in this house yeah. Really it's community. And in the breeze the cornice is also view we had to do a lot of work of the cornice yeah a lot of missing elements. But in the pain we've been able to really highlight. The end of the release of via the moldings. And we didn't have to remove a lot of pain but -- really done that effectively with the took tons of paint to death I love the scale of the furniture in here the hall as big the table as big paintings fit it fit. That's the theory. But what this these with a pile pastors and we were able to paint those who look like marble -- it down wood and their car are original date you know Friedan. What about the guilty well we guilt the top of the can't just leave the capital because we found some gold -- original. Traces episode you've made it look aged it's not to shine right like that and this is a leading into the for the library that -- You can see on the -- it -- like mahogany but it's not really -- an inch and a flame mahogany and now abuses and original door this is an original door and it's painted many many layers of paint but we found in a -- of the doors the original. Finish was this -- replicate it. What about the hardware. The hardware we also replicated where was missing we had brass elements -- and silver plate so this is the libraries and global. And hearing panel is that the typical atoms mantle with all of this on. Composition -- elements similar to ours rupiah. And then you added all the shows back here on the so the wall well yeah we had to create a library and make it look like it would have been here originally. Don't used elements that we thought -- of the period that's palladian. Style bookcase that nice central -- very effective and then. And then where did you hide stuff like -- area where we did want to put a stereo in a bar in this area so I'm. We had to kind of build some furniture elements that were part of the walls and what we did we we took from old salvaged boards from the attic. And use some modern hardware to create these. This corner bookcase marvelous nice job which unit well let's go in the dining room enough on the way we can look at the kitchen. It is beautiful nice nice proportions -- the room that the same size as the -- across the hall. Look at this. Southern yellow pine gap and now we salvage these beings after hurricane Hugo for some damaged houses and managed to -- countertops the owner usually have a clear art. What is that -- that seventeenth century Portuguese. How panel that found they found and now we've managed to put it together symbol. Beautiful let's look in the dining. Hey beautiful dining room isn't. Beautiful -- size of what would that proportions expert that's point five feet long."

" About eighteen feet wide and I think twelve feet tall and the chandelier must hang down about six feet wouldn't you suppose that's English Irish I'm not sure actually I think it's -- I know it's an eighteenth century piece and I'm not sure of the origin and then again one of these rectangular ceiling plaques that are -- hallmark of this house that really. -- made by the color scheme is great there with that peach or or vermilion color that they used. To highlight it then you pick it up again in the cornice is all the way around the room and have been so effective and so beautifully painted."

" Well this is the Manilow I was telling you about. Incredible seatbelts -- they knew where you won't CNN now like this Charleston. That's really ornate we have a central central panel that's made up of a lot of sea shells and all the bands that taco shells -- in all sorts of corkscrew just incredible. -- down here this is the same detail we have at our house were working on right now on the street this looks like he was just made yesterday and then we had to pick out twenty or thirty layers of paint it reveals this detail unbelievable and this this is very very. Ornate marble or -- sized limestone to good choice to go see shows that it has. Fossils and yeah and over here we have kind of the stock -- and -- with the hunt seen identical to one in our house right. And over this is a bread fruit tree and it's framed by these two pastors with a fluted shafts and really ornate. Corinthian capitals in the shelves."

" So the local carpenters would have made the wooden mantelpiece and it would -- way to England for all these applied declarations have been to stop the month that's that's a good possibility yet. And then on up in the over -- we again have the fluted pilasters. With. Leafs for the capital site and a very very ornate warrants. It's really really something else now that good thing regret and also the proportions of this room are identical. To the dining room and when we're looking at the outside facade we saw that date altered a lot of things but they haven't altered the plan at all have a billion -- pretty much as it was bono's first bill."

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