All Four Sides Are Fronts
You can tell a lot about the quality of a development by looking past the facade
How the hell did Vince pull this off?
This is the densest detached single-family development I have ever seen.
I was recently working on a project modeled on Vince Graham’s remarkable Earl’s Court in Mount Pleasant. On just 1.3 acres, they built 27 homes ranging from 1,100 to 2,400 square feet. It sits right at the entrance to the city’s Old Village, transitioning seamlessly from historic fabric into new housing that you’d swear has been there for a century.
For those mathing at home, the project is over 20 homes per acre in a detached single-family form. Which is unprecedented—especially when you consider that the site also includes a renovated historic structure for art galleries and future space for a 23-room boutique inn and restaurant.
This density is natural to Charleston but new to the rest of the South. Building this tight requires taste, architectural skill, and a developer stubborn enough to insist on doing it right.
That’s precisely what Earl’s Court had.
Today I want to talk about what I see as the simple but unobvious reason why all this works.
“Integrity is what you do when no one is watching.”
Last week I called the lead architect, Phil Clarke. We talked through the site’s mechanics: how tight it is, how parking and utilities were handled, how fire access was solved, and how they made it all fit without it feeling forced.
But what struck me most were Phil’s secondary facades. Many of them are barely visible unless you walk the site. And yet they were all thoughtfully designed.
I mentioned that to Phil because in nearly all other American residential developments today, only the front facade receives attention. If symmetry and trim appear at all, it's on the one facade facing the public realm (usually the street). The other three sides are afterthoughts. Windows drift, alignments disappear, and proportions loosen.
Why is it so good at Earl’s Court? Phil’s response was simple:
“All four sides are fronts.”
Meaning: we design all four sides. There are no afterthoughts here.
