The Pinch
34,000 square feet
3 stories, 25 keys
Charleston, South Carolina
2022
The Pinch, one of Charleston’s newest boutique hotels, offers guests a blend of historic ambiance, modern amenities, and residential comforts. Located on lower King Street, the unique hospitality development is an assemblage of four buildings—a new three-story structure and three restored buildings dating back to 1843.
The Pinch is a luxury hospitality complex comprised of four buildings facing a common mews that services the entrance to the new hotel. For the new 3-story building, MA designed two distinctive facades: a contextually appropriate limestone facade facing King Street, which required BAR approval and was designed to be retail-oriented, as well as a brick facade on the rear of the building facing the mews. The development also features a bespoke ground-floor restaurant and a small courtyard with an outdoor fireplace for guests to enjoy year-round.
The hotel's overall design takes inspiration from the great English traditions of craftsmanship that were brought to Charleston and played a large role in creating many of the iconic homes and storefronts that give the city its charm. While there are subtle variations and unique configurations in each suite, they all feature timeless-yet-contemporary interiors with lush velvet sofas, vintage rugs, custom decor items, full kitchens, Italian marble farmhouse sinks, and hand-painted terracotta Moroccan floor tiles in the bathrooms. For the ideal home-away-from-home experience, suites also feature ample closet spaces and washers and dryers.
Walls throughout The Pinch are covered in beautiful artwork by local and international artists. Private balconies and landscaped terraces expand select suites.
The Pinch's lobby is designed to feel like a living room, complete with a reclaimed oxblood leather concierge desk, vintage McIntosh stereo, and a collection of vinyl, books, and artwork, including an original painting by Lucas Reiner. Traditional details—including walnut herringbone floors, large-scale classic trim, stonework, and clay plaster walls—reinforce the history of the site.
The refined modern design continues in the common spaces, where it complements the traditional Old World Victorian aesthetic as a nod to the property's history and original architecture.
Awards
- Best Adaptive Reuse/Renovation Project, International Contemporary Furniture Fair - 2023
- Carolopolis Pro Merito Award, Preservation Society of Charleston - 2023
Press
Image Credits
- Christian Harder
- Katie Charlotte Lybrand
