use they wanted to move their two small children out of a trailer home, and they wanted to have a larger space in which they could manage their 120-acre horse farm. The total area of the house is only 1600 sq. ft. One author noted that the house [reconciles] lofty aspirations and modest means.W.G. Clark is not a native to Charleston. He worked for six years for Robert Venturi before going to work with Charles Menefee on the Middleton Inn for Charles Duell. This project was Clarks first major work, and was more in tune with the work of Peter Eisenman. Charles Duell, a Middleton descendent, dreamed up the idea of the Middleton Inn, 15 miles outside of Charleston. He envisioned a guesthouse and conference center, and planned on seasonal guests who came for flower festivals and other annual events. The Inn was remote from city tourist attractions, and Clark capitalized on this and made it a rural retreat in the woods. The Inn was filled with Charleston details, which helped to bridge the gap between the city and the rural hideaway in the woods. These details included terra-cotta chimney pots, wooden shutters, stick-style furniture, special stucco called slave coat, and Charleston Green paint, which accentuated the building in the midst of the trees and growth in the surrounding woods.Clark and Menefee exemplified an uncommon American virtue, restraint. Their structures had a simple and clear formal order, and were compact in plan. Their belief was that generosity was achieved in section. In describing their architecture, one critic notes that Clark and Menefees buildings distil a didactic language through which both formal meaning and construction can be revealed and understood. It was also said that their houses were idealized pavilions sitting solidly on the site in the classical manner. Their designs were small and succinct, and interior finishes were sometimes rough, but their craft was excellent. Clark and Menefee succee...
