Designer Alexandra Howard revamped the interiors with understated elegance
Located in the heart of the historic French Quarter, this centuries-old Queen Street house has many tales to tell from the generations of residents that have lived within its walls. For current homeowners Claudia and Ron Griffin, their story here began with a birthday. The couple had visited Charleston every year at Christmastime for three decades. “We’d come the day after Christmas and stay at Charleston Place for a week or so,” says Claudia, who was drawn by the city’s warm hospitality and the tranquility it offered following the cheerful chaos of a large family holiday in Atlanta.
Then, one day in 2010, while on a work trip in Los Angeles, Ron was browsing real estate online and came across the Queen Street single house. “He remembered it from one of the Historic Charleston Foundation house tours he’d been on,” says Claudia. He flew to the city that weekend and bought it. The first Claudia knew of Ron’s spontaneous purchase was when he took her there on her birthday and presented the home to her as a gift.
In the ensuing years, the couple and their two daughters enjoyed Christmases and other holidays in the five-bedroom home, until Ron’s retirement from his role as CIO at AutoZone three years ago. “Now it’s our primary home,” says Claudia, who had a career as a chemist for Coca-Cola in Atlanta before starting her family. “We love it here, and we love the location—we’re right in the thick of everything.”
Soothing Sanctuary: The drawing room’s glossy, lacquered ceiling (Benjamin Moore “Misted Green”), soft color palette, and luxurious fabrics create a calm oasis for Claudia. “I love this space. It’s so peaceful to me.” The custom sofa, wrapped in Halsey & Spruce raw silk, is flanked by luminous Sabina Fay Braxton fabric drapes.
Built in 1797 following the destruction of the lot’s original structure in the Great Fire of 1796, the house is situated in the shadow of St. Philip’s Church, just two blocks from East Bay, King, and Broad streets. Along with its location, the Griffins were drawn to the home’s historic character, from its brick and stucco exterior and pitched hip roof to its classic Charleston single layout—a one-room-wide design that made full use of the narrow lots afforded to the early homes built within the then-walled city.
While the house was originally just two rooms deep and three stories high, with a central stairwell and separate brick kitchen house, over the years it has been expanded to allow for modern living. A “hyphen” was previously added to connect the main house to the kitchen house, becoming the home’s modern kitchen. The kitchen house, with its great fireplace, now serves as a den downstairs, while the upstairs hosts the primary bedroom suite. Ron and Claudia converted a small shed attached to the kitchen house into an office, completing the residence as it is today.
The family happily vacationed there for more than a decade, but in 2021, Ron’s retirement and their youngest daughter’s imminent wedding gave Claudia the perfect excuse for a interior redesign. “I told Ron when we first moved in that one day I would want to make it into what I had always envisioned this house should be,” she says of a classic, historically accurate home that’s also comfortable and functional.
To help execute that vision, Claudia hired Alexandra Howard, a New York- and Charleston-based interior designer who grew up on the peninsula and specializes in working with antiques and historical homes. The plan was to refresh four key areas: the drawing and dining rooms, which flank the main entryway and stairwell; the main guest bedroom; and the primary bedroom in the converted kitchen house. Howard was also tasked with restoring the home’s long, brick wall-enclosed garden.
(Left to right) Halsey & Spruce dupioni silk-covered walls pair with the Twigs “Villa Foscari”-papered ceiling in the dining room to create a feeling of grandeur in the small room. Overlooked by the George III Japanese cabinet in green and gold, a custom, round mahogany table with Chesterfield dining chairs upholstered in gold velvet provide enough space for the Griffin family to congregate; The home’s entryway, flanked by the drawing and dining rooms, features original heart-of-pine floors, an 18th-century French Régence gilt-wood mirror, and a Baroque chest of drawers; The kitchen, situated in the home’s hyphen, is painted in Benjamin Moore “White Dove” and boasts a La Cornue range.
The designer worked to create elegant spaces appropriate to the home’s history that also fit with the Griffins’ lifestyle, which includes lots of entertaining and spending time with family and grandchildren. In the drawing room, Howard mixed antiques, including a Swedish armoire and a 19th-century brass mirror, with a contemporary, cream-colored Swedish Kilim rug and white furnishings accented by handmade pillows wrapped in antique silk textiles.
Brass sunflower sconces pop from the white walls, where diaphanous curtains frame wood shutters topped by fabric shades sewn with freshwater pearls. The pièce de résistance is the showstopping, glossy blue ceiling. “I knew I wanted a lacquered blue ceiling—I wanted it to shine,” says Claudia. “And it does. I just love it; I think it’s beautiful.”
In the dining room—connected to the drawing room by the home’s original heart-of-pine floors through wide, arched passageways—Howard tied the spaces together with a pair of 1930s French chandeliers. This room contrasts with the bright, airy nature of the drawing room, affording a more dramatic look, thanks to a circular mahogany dining table and tufted Chesterfield chairs, reupholstered in gold velvet.
Gold wallpaper on the ceiling and gold silk walls, over which two paintings of Japanese royalty hang, add to the grandeur of the space. “We got inspired,” Howard says of the silk walls. “Claudia wanted this room to be gold and fell in love with the ceiling paper first, then we wanted the art to speak for itself. With these projects, once you pick one thing, the decisions kind of flow.”
That key piece for the dining room is the stunning 18th-century George III Japanese cabinet in green and gold, which Howard sourced from Avery & Dash, an antiques store in Connecticut. “I wanted a dining room we could actually use instead of it being somewhere we just threw things on the table and walked through to the kitchen,” says Claudia. “It turned out wonderfully.”
Secret Garden: Howard created a sanctuary in the brick walled garden, expanding the feel of the long narrow space with carefully positioned mirrors, including antique arched verdigris mirrors from England. Planted container gardens, managed by Blooms by Beth, complement the ivy-clad walls, and a wrought iron outdoor dining set allows for alfresco entertaining.
Upstairs in the guest room, Howard brought a pop of color courtesy of dramatic red drapes that mimic a Lowcountry sunset. “I pulled the color from the painting in this room and tied in the theme with custom bedding and lampshades,” notes Howard. The bold hue continues the Asian-inspired aesthetic, which is also reflected in the more muted colors of the primary bedroom.
There, Howard worked with the existing taupe palette, adding an intricate, bonsai-patterned metallic wallpaper and pulling in custom silk drapes with a metallic trim to accentuate the feature. Pillows with antique Japanese textiles feature bonsai trees to complement the wallpaper, and a new seating area, where Ron can work on his laptop, pairs an antique, gold bench upholstered in white fabric with a mirrored, gold coffee table. The overall effect adds depth and interest to the room.
The revival of these key spaces has enhanced Claudia’s love for her new hometown, and helping preserve one of its early properties has given the couple a deeper appreciation for local history. They are looking forward to creating more stories within the walls on Queen Street and enjoying the many delights outside of them. “I love everything about Charleston,” she says. “I love the people, I love the history, and I really love being able to just walk out the front door to amazing restaurants and shops.”
