Luxury Hotels Atlas / Places / United States / Charleston / Wentworth Mansion
Wentworth Mansion
Charleston, South Carolina, United States · Independent · High Luxury
Cotton merchant Francis Silas Rodgers finished this Second Empire house in 1886 with Tiffany glass, carved marble fireplaces, and a rooftop cupola over Harleston Village. Twenty-one rooms after the 1998 hotel conversion. Circa 1886 occupies the original carriage house. The MICHELIN Guide gave it Two Keys in 2025.
- 21 rooms
- Opened 1998
- Neighborhood: King Street Fashion District
- Architect: Daniel G. Wayne
About Wentworth Mansion
- Cotton merchant Francis Silas Rodgers completed the mansion in 1886 in the French-inspired Second Empire style, with a bas-relief cornice depicting a cotton plant as a nod to the trade that funded it.
- The interior featured Tiffany stained-glass windows, hand-carved marble fireplaces and Italian crystal chandeliers.
- In 1920 the Scottish Rite Cathedral Association, a Masonic organization, bought the mansion for 100,000 dollars and added a 600-seat auditorium.
- It opened as a luxury hotel in 1998 after restoration.
History
The mansion at 149 Wentworth Street was completed in 1886 as the private residence of Francis Silas Rodgers, a wealthy cotton merchant and Charleston city councilman who chose the French-inspired Second Empire style as the architectural language for his family home. The Second Empire idiom — named for the reign of Emperor Napoleon III and characterized by the distinctive Mansard roofline, dormers, cornices, and medallions — was then at the height of its American popularity, and Rodgers executed it with exceptional completeness and quality. The interior was no less lavish: Tiffany stained-glass windows, hand-carved marble fireplaces, intricate woodwork, Italian crystal chandeliers, and a bas-relief cornice above the dining room window depicting a cotton plant, a direct acknowledgment of the commerce that had built it all. The total effect placed the Rodgers Mansion among the grandest private residences in the postbellum South.
In 1920, more than three decades after construction, the Scottish Rite Cathedral Association of Charleston — a Masonic organization — purchased the mansion for $100,000 and added an auditorium capable of seating 600 members, connected to the original house by a corridor. The auditorium was later removed. From 1940 until 1996 the landmark served as the headquarters of the Atlantic Coast Life Insurance Company, during which time the mansion's architectural integrity was largely maintained even as its function was purely commercial.
Richard Widman acquired the property in 1997 with the explicit intention of converting it into a luxury boutique hotel. An eighteen-month restoration was completed in 1998, introducing central air conditioning without disturbing the surviving historic fabric — the Tiffany windows, the carved marble fireplaces, the original crystal chandeliers, the ornate woodwork — and creating twenty-one guest rooms and suites each individually appointed with period details. The restoration revealed the mansion's quality anew: it was listed with Historic Hotels of America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2003, and the Circa 1886 restaurant, housed in the original carriage house, quickly became one of Charleston's most celebrated dining addresses. The MICHELIN Guide awarded Wentworth Mansion Two Keys in 2025.
The setting
Wentworth Mansion commands the corner of Wentworth and Smith Streets in Harleston Village, one of Charleston's most gracefully preserved residential districts, within easy reach of King Street's boutiques and galleries. Built in 1886 for cotton merchant Francis Silas Rodgers, the four-story Second Empire mansion features Philadelphia pressed brick, Tiffany stained-glass windows, marble fireplaces, and hand-carved ceilings; the original carriage house now houses Circa 1886, one of the city's most celebrated restaurants. Charleston City Market is thirteen minutes on foot, the Gibbes Museum of Art fifteen minutes away, and the Charleston Museum a twenty-minute walk.
Restaurants and bars
- Circa 1886 — Restaurant
Experiences
- Dining at Circa 1886 — Restaurant in the original carriage house of the Wentworth Manor, blending historic charm with modern touches.
Amenities
- Spa
- Pet-friendly
Awards
- MICHELIN Two Keys (2025)
- Travel + Leisure World's Best Hotels (2025)
Open Wentworth Mansion in the atlas for live weekend rates, photos, and the full folio.
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