Northeast Corner of Barhamville Road and Matthews Street
Known as George Street until 1944, Matthews Street possesses several intact examples of the “shotgun” house, a domestic vernacular style historically common throughout the South. The shotgun house, popular from 1880 to 1930, was distinct for its narrow, rectangular form, usually one room wide and two rooms deep. This domestic style often populated modest or low income urban Southern neighborhoods and was once a more prominent presence on the streetscape of Columbia. Some historians trace the origin of the shotgun house to African and Haitian influences in New Orleans, where they subsequently were adopted by black freedmen who migrated to cities across the South. Unfortunately, modern development in Columbia has replaced many of these distinct historic houses across the city.
-
Northeast Corner of Barhamville Road and Matthews Street, 2018. Historic Columbia collection
-
View looking east down the 2400 block of Matthews Street, 1956. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
-
View looking east down the 2400 block of Matthews Street, 1966. Image courtesy Joseph Winter Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
