2604 Canterbury Road
2025 Palladium Tour | A Century of Style
2604 Canterbury Road
Built for sisters Erin (1882-1976) and Nell Kohn (1894-1979) by contractor John T. Watkins in 1961, this two-story Colonial Revival home features a brick veneer first floor and clapboard second floor. Designed by architecture firm Jackson & Miller, the Kohn house is a later addition to Forest Hills that respects the stately houses and mature landscape of the established neighborhood. The house cost $41,500 to construct in 1961 and exuded elegance through its Colonial Revival elements like wooden six-over-six windows, Classical pedimented portico, and symmetrical façade while also touting modern amenities like air conditioning.
The Kohn sisters, who had previously resided at 1318 Westminster Street and also owned a home in Hendersonville, North Carolina, built this home and frequently entertained in it. "Misses Erin and Nell," who never married, were heavily involved in the Columbia community. They turned their parents’ home, 1517 Laurel Street, into the headquarters for the South Carolina Society of Crippled Children and Adults, hosted the annual Quill Club (South Carolina’s oldest creative writing club) birthday dinner every March, were on the List of Founders for the Ainsley Hall House and Garden, patrons of the Columbia Museum of Art, and members of the DAR. At right, Nell and Erin were photographed byThe State newspaper at a tea in their home in 1962.
The home remained in the Kohn family after Erin and Nell passed away in 1976 and 1979, respectively, when their nephew Hal Kohn Jr. took ownership. Hal and his wife, Charlotte, remained in the house until 2006 when Jane Stirling and Brandon Holmes Clarke purchased it. The current owners, Edward and Anne Marie Crosswell, purchased the home in 2022 and have enlarged and modernized it while retaining the historic, character-defining features. They used interior designer Sullivan Barreto with E. Sullivan Designs out of Greenville with Alisa Bunch of Westend Interiors supplementing on additional projects.
Architects Jackson & Miller’s work can be found throughout Columbia, including the Farm Bureau Federation building (1962) on Knox Abbott Drive, All Saints Episcopal Church (1961) in Cayce, St. Andrew’s Junior High (1967), and Kathwood Baptist Church (1969) near the corner of Park and Lady streets, among numerous others. The architects’ use of Colonial Revival style indicates their understanding of the neighborhood aesthetic, as many of their commissions were more Modern in style. Builder John T. Watkins (1921-2013) was a well-known home builder in Columbia, specializing in custom residential construction ($50,000-$150,000 in 1964 dollars, which is about $510,000 to over $1,500,000 today), building only about five home per year to focus on quality. In 1964, he was named “Homebuilder of the Year.”
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