Lachicotte House
1512 Laurel Street

Home to only one family during its eighty years as a residence, the Lachicotte House exemplifies the Victorian era's Queen Anne style of architecture, popular in America from 1870-1900. Asymmetrical, with a steeply-pitched roof and front-facing gable, this home has a unique Chippendale style balustrade, or "gingerbread" motif, that highlights its porch. This characteristic creates a more horizontal orientation to the façade while adding character typically absent in vertical-spindled balustrades.

Philip Howard Lachicotte, member of a prominent Charleston and Georgetown family, moved to Columbia in 1883 with his family. He opened a jewelry store in the 100 block of Richardson Street, an area known today as the 1400 block of Main Street. Business prospered and he had this fine home built in 1897. With his wife Belle, Lachicotte would go on to raise Louise, Ermine, and May, their three children, here. Though they did not own a horse or carriage, young Louis Lachicotte won a pony in 1913 from the VanMetre Furnishing Company on Main Street, which he kept in a woodshed behind the house.

The Lachicotte family sold the property in 1978 and the former home was rehabilitated into offices. At the time, favorable tax credit laws made the project possible and enforced a quality restoration.

Staci Richey and John Sherrer

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