The Lace House, also known historically as the Robertson House, is an exceptionally well-preserved antebellum residence constructed in 1854–1855 on Arsenal Hill in Columbia. John C. Caldwell, a prominent Columbia banker, cotton broker, and president of the South Carolina Railroad, built the house as a wedding gift for his youngest daughter, Mary Ophelia Caldwell, and her husband, Thomas J. Robertson. The residence occupies an important position within one of Columbia’s earliest and most distinguished residential areas, adjacent to the Caldwell-Boylston House and across from the South Carolina Governor’s Mansion. Designed in a French architectural tradition, the two-story, five-bay frame dwelling is raised over an English basement and is distinguished by its elegant symmetry and elaborate two-story piazzas. The house’s exceptional exterior ironwork, with intricate cast-iron supports, lace-like railings, and decorative trim, gave the residence its enduring name and provides one of the most distinctive architectural features of the property.

The Lace House retains an unusually rich collection of nineteenth-century interior and exterior details, including ornamental cornices and friezes, parquet floors, figured-glass doors and windows, and brass chandeliers originally illuminated by gas. Its architectural character, sophisticated detailing, and association with Columbia’s antebellum social and political elite make it an important surviving example of the city’s mid-nineteenth-century residential architecture. Following periods of private ownership and later use as a rooming house, the property served as headquarters for the South Carolina Women’s Christian Temperance Union from 1954 to 1968. The State of South Carolina acquired the house in 1968 and undertook restoration, subsequently incorporating it into the Governor’s Mansion complex as an official guest house and setting for state functions. Listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1969, the Lace House remains an integral component of Columbia’s Arsenal Hill historic landscape and is particularly significant for its architectural distinction, elaborate ironwork, and connection to the development of Columbia’s antebellum elite residential district.