One of downtown Charleston’s best-known houses is for sale at a price that would set a local record.
The Sword Gate House at 32 Legare St. went on the market Oct. 19 for $35 million, The Post and Courier reported. A sale at that price would shatter the local single-family sales record, the newspaper reported. The current record for a downtown Charleston house is $21 million, paid for 51 East Bay St. in a sale that closed Oct. 31, 2025, according to county real estate records cited by the paper.
The property takes its name from the sword-and-spear design of the wrought-iron gate that has guarded its entrance since the late 1840s. Charleston ironworker Christopher Werner made the gates, the paper reported.
The Federal-style main house has three stories, eight bedrooms, nine full bathrooms and two powder rooms. A two-bedroom carriage house sits on the 0.87-acre lot, and the property has 17,142 square feet of living space in all. The listing agent is Leslie Turner of Maison Real Estate, the paper reported.
The owner, The SOB Trust of Nashville, paid $10 million for the property in 2020, according to Charleston County land records. The trust has since renovated the house, including adding a kitchen to the main living space, Turner told the paper. Before that sale, the house had been on and off the market for more than a decade. It was first listed in April 2009 for $23 million, and the price was later cut to $19.5 million and then $13.99 million, the paper reported.
Turner said the renovation sets this listing apart.
“We’ve had some big sales downtown over the last few years, but all of those have required multi-year huge renovations,” she told the newspaper. “The important thing is this house is move-in ready.”
Another historic house, the Drayton House at 25 East Battery, was previously listed for $28 million but has since been taken off the market, the paper reported.
