Robert William Roper House

About

The Robert William Roper House is an early-nineteenth-century house of architectural importance located at 9 East Battery in Charleston, South Carolina. It was built on land purchased in May 1838 by Robert W. Roper, a state legislator from the parish of St. Paul's, and a prominent member of the South Carolina Agricultural Society, whose income derived from his position as a cotton planter and slave holder. The house is considered to be an exemplar of Greek Revival architecture, built on a monumental scale. Although there are now two houses between Roper House and White Point Garden to the south, for a decade after its construction nothing stood between the house and the harbor beyond, making it the first and most prominent house to be seen by visitors approaching Charleston by sea.

The Roper House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973. That same year, the authors of the nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places described the house as "exceptional...well-proportioned and architecturally sophisticated...to be preserved and protected in situ at all costs."