1. Buildings as Primary Sources When looking at buildings, take note of how you respond to them. Each of responds to architecture according to our own perspectives or biases. Each of us has personal aesthetic values that are influenced by the culture in which we live. People of other generations are no different. They had notions of what “looked good,” of how architecture expressed what they valued. Architects design buildings based on peoples’ tastes and biases. Therefore, looking at architecture provides historical evidence of past cultural expressions. Architecture is much like other “readable” primary sources.

2. Hampton Plantation, 1735 St James Santee Church, 1768 Beth Eloim Synagogue, 1840

3. Miles Brewton Stable c. 1825 William Aiken House, Carriage House, 1811

4. Drayton Hall, c. 1742 Click here to see Drayton Hall Virtual Tour, Interior, First Story, Great Hall

5. Aiken-Rhett House, 1817

6. Single Houses on Ashley Street

7. Camden Towers, c. 1830

8. Arcade Theater, 1949; Raized, 2002