The Charleston single house
The most famous architectural style of home that you'll find in Charleston is the Charleston single house.
It's been said that the reason the narrow side of the home faces the street is that property taxes were based on the width of the lot and the tax burden was minimized by building the home in this way.
Whether that is fact or fiction, the Charleston single house is a most interesting style of home.
With the front door on the porch leading to a side porch (called a piazza in Charleston). You would then enter the home from the porch at the center through the entrance door and in many cases, there are additional doors that can be left open in order to have the best cross-ventilation which was obviously important in those days before air conditioning.
While the style of a Charleston single house has been updated to today's lifestyles in both the city and throughout the suburbs, an authentic Charleston single house is also just one room wide and the porch is always on the side.