The Downtown Italianate
Heart-pine floors and a bath under the roofline, inside a three-story downtown Italianate.
A three-story stucco building in downtown Charleston, with Italianate window hoods, a bracketed cornice and palmettos along the street. Inside, the original heart-pine floors run through bright bedrooms with tall windows and into a long dressing hall lined with mirrored closets and glass transom doors. At the top of the house, the main bath sits under the slope of the roof, with skylights, a glass shower, a soaking tub and white cabinetry, while a second bath keeps its clawfoot tub. Work in a building like this is about making old rooms work for daily life without losing what made them worth keeping.
Home Renovation in Downtown Charleston, SC
VIP Construction is a general contractor in Charleston, South Carolina, and much of our work downtown happens inside houses that were built long before anyone imagined a walk-in shower or a dressing room. Renovating a historic home on the peninsula means updating the rooms people use every day while keeping the floors, windows and proportions that give the house its value. If you are looking for a contractor to renovate a historic home in downtown Charleston, this is the kind of work we do.
Older townhouses and single houses rarely have square walls, standard ceiling heights or easy access for materials. We plan each room around what is already there, so new work fits the house instead of fighting it.
Bathrooms That Work Inside an Old House
Bathrooms are usually where a historic home needs the most help. Under a sloped roof or in a converted upper floor, a good bath depends on careful layout: showers placed where the ceiling allows, skylights and windows used for daylight, and cabinetry built to fit the space. Glass enclosures, tile, vanities and plumbing fixtures are coordinated by one team, and where an original piece such as a clawfoot tub is worth keeping, we keep it and build around it.
Floors, Closets and the Rooms Upstairs
Original heart-pine floors are one of the best things an old Charleston house can have, and they can usually be refinished rather than replaced. Upstairs, bedrooms, hallways and dressing areas can be reorganized with built-in closets, mirrored doors and glass transoms that carry light from room to room. Paint, trim and doors are chosen to sit comfortably next to the original millwork, so the renovation reads as part of the house.
Outside, stucco, window hoods and cornices are repaired to match what exists. Exterior changes in the city’s historic districts are commonly reviewed by the Board of Architectural Review, and we plan schedules with that in mind.
Serving Downtown Charleston and the Peninsula
VIP Construction has been building in the Lowcountry since 2004, for homeowners, builders and developers, with a clean record with every municipality we have worked in. We renovate homes across downtown Charleston, the peninsula, Mount Pleasant, James Island and West Ashley.
Planning to renovate a home downtown? Call or text VIP Construction at (843) 999-7380, or tell us about the project.