" -Welcome to the Russell house."

" -Thanks. Now I understand you're kicking off for restoration campaign."

" -That's right we've done some weatherization following hurricane Hugo but we've just received a Getty foundation planning grant to conserve the structure."

" -So what planning have you done so far?"

" -Well, starting here on the frontise piece of the original house. We removed that section, a later edition and you'll see ghost marks, the original surrounding was about an inch wider than that which replaced it, so we're studying every element for reconstruction."

" -Now is everything else here, do the doors for example date to 1808?"

" -The doors are original as is the interior sections of the frontise piece."

" -Can we go in?"

" -Absolutely."

" -These doors really marked the inner side of the more private space of the house from the more public vestibule."

" -Hmm. I've never seen a pair of door quite like this. They're quite wide and I guess this is a rosette window."

" -That's right. We think these were made by soaking the wood actually in sea water to bend the curves really wide."

" -Now, this is a very, very famous staircase. I've seen pictures of it in books."

" -It's our most famous our architectural feature, a cantilevered staircase that rises all the way to the third floor with no visible means of support."

" -How's it work? How's the structure?"

" -Well, each step is like stacking dominoes and then connected to each of the landings."

" -And they only have any kind of relief where they touched the landings."

" -That's right. It provided a sort of ceremonial entrance to the ground or reception rooms above."

" -Alright, this being one of the reception room here though on the ground floor and it looks like it's a circular room"

" -Yes. This is an old room actually and it was the original dining room of the house, although it's been furnished as a library today. We hope to restore it to its original appearance."

" -I wondered what was in there when I was looking at the outside of the house."

" -Yeah."

" -Because essentially this end with its large bay portion of the structure."

" -This is Nathaniel Russell the builder painted in 1787 by Edward Savage, a year before he married at age 50 to the daughter, of one Charleston's richest merchants, Sarah Hampton. So, they put two big fortunes together."

" -That's right."

" -Yeah."

" -What other important rooms around the ground floor."

" -Well, at the back to the house was the original back hall, where the family really lived. It was furnished as a dining room, first in 1908, when it was extended to connect the original exterior kitchen to the main house."

" -Are all of these Charleston antiques?"

" -Many of them all are. The side board at end of the room is a particularly [unk] piece made in Charleston about 1800."

" -And how big is the house?"

" -It's really only a 9-room house with the stair hole, about 6,000 square feet."

" -Any idea how much it cost to build?"

" -Fifty years after it was built, it was said to have cost 80,000 dollars."

" -And who's the charming woman in the portrait here."

" -This is Charlestonian Mary Rutledge Smith painted in London by George [unk] in 1786."

" -Yeah."

" -And just beyond this wall Bob, is the remnant of a corkscrew spiral staircase, the original servant stair. We're doing a lot of investigation of the African-American presence here, who made the house work. We think there were eighteen slaves here originally."

" -Now this is another oval room stacked on top of the one below, right?"

" -Yes. There's an oval room on each of the three floors. The detailing in here is really spectacular."

" -It is incredible."

" -Now is the cornice molding all plaster? "

" -The cornice is plaster. The [unk] and then up at the top there were originally [unk] pendants that came from each of this round sections you see. They were renewed in the 1950s. We've now found the original through paint research, so we'll put them. back."

" -And you still have them in the basement or some place?"

" -We do."

" -That's great."

" -Tell me about the front room here."

" -Well, there is another drawing room at front of the house."

" -It's interesting that it in contrast to the beautifully ornamented walls, the floors are very, very plain."

" -Well that's because they never saw a lot of that in the federal period. This room and many others would have been completely carpeted with Wilton Axminster or Brussels carpets imported from England."

" -I see. Is this a typical furniture layout for a room like this?"

" -Well, when in use, furniture would be brought out. When not in use, it would have been against the walls and our furnishings plans are something we're working very carefully on. Our assistant curator Robert Lee has computerized Charleston federal period inventories to decide just what would have been in these rooms."

" -Are these regency chairs?"

" -Are these regency chairs. They're English, but they were owned here in Charleston by the second owner of the house. Governor RFW Allston, descendants have just given them to us."

" -So they're nearly 200 years old."

" -Absolutely."

" -Wonderful. And the mantelpiece?"

" -The mantel has again this London composition decoration. You can see how twenty layers of paint obscures this and again this will be a very important part of our restoration to date."