Northeast Corner of Marion and Pendleton Streets
Site of Dr. Robert W. Gibbes Residence
One of Columbia’s grander residences, owned by prominent naturalist and antiquarian Dr. Robert Gibbes (1809 - 1866), was destroyed during the Burning of Columbia. Located just north of South Carolina College, where he taught chemistry, geology and mineralogy, the house contained a vast library, works of art, historical documents from the Revolutionary era and fossils, which were all destroyed. Gibbes was a graduate of both South Carolina College and Charleston Medical College and in addition to teaching, he became one of Columbia's premier doctors. He was the physician of many prominent planter families, including the Hamptons, the Prestons and the Singletons, and also treated their enslaved workers. In 1850, he played host to Louis Agassiz, who visited Columbia for eight days to photograph enslaved men and women. These images, taken by Columbia photographer Joseph T. Zealy (1812 - 1893), are owned by the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University and can be viewed here.
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Ruins of Dr. Robert W. Gibbes' residence following the Burning of Columbia. Image courtesy of South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina
