CHARLESTON — A downtown mansion that’s served as a significant property, and later hotel, for more than a century is now for sale for $16.5 million.
The Stevens-Lathers property at 20 S. Battery sits across from White Point Garden. Built in 1843 as a three-story neoclassical showpiece, it originally belonged to the family of Samuel and Mary Stevens.
In 1870, Col. Richard Lathers bought the home and hired architect John Henry Devereux to make “major alterations in the Second Empire style,” according to a historic marker in front of the property. With his updates, he added a fourth floor and a grand ballroom. Lathers sold the house four years later.
The estate today comprises the mansion, attached carriage house and private gardens. Dramatic features include the grand marble staircase, original Italian mosaic floors and the gilded Grand Ballroom. The sweeping, oval staircase with an Empire Newel post still remains…