Last updated: October 11, 2019
Place
Giovanni Sottile House
Photograph by Christina R. Butler courtesy of South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office
Quick Facts
Location:
Charleston, South Carolina
Significance:
ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING, PERSON
Designation:
Listed in the National Register – Reference number 100003690
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
The Sottile House is significant for its association with Giovanni Sottile, the Italian consular agent to Charleston, who lived in the house from 1905 to his death at home in 1913. Giovanni Sottile and the immigrants he advocated for were part of a wave of migration from Italy in the late 19th century. While the majority of Italian immigrants entered the United States through New York City and settled in the industrial cities of the North, some Italians migrated to the South. Catholic historian Father Richard Madden noted that, “the immigration of Italians to the state [of South Carolina] becomes noticeable in the early 1870s. By 1871 there were enough in Charleston to form an Italian society called St. Joseph’s Latin Society.” The city was home to 300 Italians in 1911.
Like many of his countrymen, Giovanni Sottile left Sicily for the United States in search of financial advancement in a new nation. When Giovanni Sottile arrived in New York City in 1889, he immediately travelled to South Carolina to take a position as accountant for a phosphate company. During his brief employment in the phosphate industry he witnessed the poor treatment of immigrant laborers. This experience became “the basis for the great service which he was later enabled to endeavor to render service for his countrymen in America” as an advocate for his fellow Italians. He left the industry and by 1895, he was in Charleston and involved in liquor sales. He opened a bar and refreshments stand called the Jetty House on Sullivan’s Island with one of his brothers in May 1895, and began advertising himself as a beer and spirits agent in 1897. Sottile also amassed wealth in real estate speculation, investing on Sullivan’s Island and purchasing properties in Charleston. He married Carmela Restivo on a return visit to Sicily in 1896. They had four children, all born in Charleston: Salvatore, Rosina, Giovanni, and Carmelina, the last of whom was born at this house in 1910 and resided here until her death in 1991.
Because of his personal success, Giovanni Sottile was in a unique position to advocate for his fellow, less fortunate Italians. As a majority Catholic group usually unable to speak English, coming from backgrounds of poverty, and sometimes viewed as a non-white race, Italians immigrants experienced prejudice throughout the United States. At the turn of the century, railroad and industrial agents from the southern states began to prey on newly arrived Italians, enticing them with job offers and lucrative wages, only to trap them into an exploitative system of peonage, in which they labored in servitude to pay off a debt for their job placement.
Sottile was appointed consul in 1899 by the Consul General in New York. The position of consul is an official appointment between two territories or countries. The role of consul is generally to protect, assist, and advocate for the citizens or immigrants of the consul’s country to the other nation, and to reinforce trade and political relations between the two nations. As consul, Sottile was an advocate for the Italian community of North Carolina and South Carolina and successfully brought two peonage cases involving exploitation of Italian immigrants to court, and he was instrumental in promoting Italian culture and heritage in Charleston. Sottile was an active statesman and used the Sottile House to entertain Italian dignitaries and local politicians. Sottile was knighted by the Kingdom of Italy for his diplomatic service to the country in 1909.
Sottile and the Consul General Branch in New York were contacted in 1900 by an Italian immigrant who had escaped exploitation in the Pon Pon Phosphate Mine on the Edisto River outside Charleston, South Carolina. The newspaper reported, “according to the unfortunate Italians, who are lured to this city to the mines on the promise of good pay, they are restrained there by armed guards and compelled to work well or sick, under pain of beating or even death, if they refuse, and by an ingenious system they are kept always in the debt of the padrone.” One sick worker who could not return to work was shot dead for disobeying a work order. Sottile appealed to South Carolina Governor McSweeney and investigations ensued. This was the first of three exploitation incidents that Sottile was involved in investigating for possible prosecution.
Incidents of peonage declined thanks to the efforts of progressive “muck-raking” journalists and politicians like Sottile, changing demographics, and better federal regulation of working conditions and workers’ rights. There were no further Italian peonage cases reported in the South Carolina newspapers after the 1906 trial, and Sottile turned his attention to Italian-U.S. diplomatic relations, fostering Italian business ventures, and attracting Italian immigrants to South Carolina for more lucrative work.
As the consulate headquarters, the Sottile House was the setting for diplomatic gatherings and Sottile’s efforts to insert Italian immigrants and culture into the American South. At the height of his diplomatic career, Sottile died unexpectedly at home in 1913, at age 46. During his short life and tenure as Italian consul, Sottile advocated for his fellow Italians in a number of ways, from testifying in court to end the suffering and exploitation of Italian peons in North and South Carolina, to actively creating gainful employment opportunities for Italian immigrants through his model farm in Ladson. His recruitment efforts ultimately failed due to state level prejudices and restrictions against organized Italian immigration to South Carolina. Despite immigration recruiting setbacks, Sottile continued to reinforce diplomatic relations between Italy and the United States, entertaining at the consulate and fundraising on behalf of fellow Italians in their mother country after the earthquakes at the turn on the twentieth century. Sottile was a wealthy man who not only served as a role model for other aspiring immigrants, but also used his place of political and financial advantage to advocate for his fellow countrymen for the duration of his life, and the Sottile House was the place from which most of his endeavors were planned and his diplomatic work took place.
Like many of his countrymen, Giovanni Sottile left Sicily for the United States in search of financial advancement in a new nation. When Giovanni Sottile arrived in New York City in 1889, he immediately travelled to South Carolina to take a position as accountant for a phosphate company. During his brief employment in the phosphate industry he witnessed the poor treatment of immigrant laborers. This experience became “the basis for the great service which he was later enabled to endeavor to render service for his countrymen in America” as an advocate for his fellow Italians. He left the industry and by 1895, he was in Charleston and involved in liquor sales. He opened a bar and refreshments stand called the Jetty House on Sullivan’s Island with one of his brothers in May 1895, and began advertising himself as a beer and spirits agent in 1897. Sottile also amassed wealth in real estate speculation, investing on Sullivan’s Island and purchasing properties in Charleston. He married Carmela Restivo on a return visit to Sicily in 1896. They had four children, all born in Charleston: Salvatore, Rosina, Giovanni, and Carmelina, the last of whom was born at this house in 1910 and resided here until her death in 1991.
Because of his personal success, Giovanni Sottile was in a unique position to advocate for his fellow, less fortunate Italians. As a majority Catholic group usually unable to speak English, coming from backgrounds of poverty, and sometimes viewed as a non-white race, Italians immigrants experienced prejudice throughout the United States. At the turn of the century, railroad and industrial agents from the southern states began to prey on newly arrived Italians, enticing them with job offers and lucrative wages, only to trap them into an exploitative system of peonage, in which they labored in servitude to pay off a debt for their job placement.
Sottile was appointed consul in 1899 by the Consul General in New York. The position of consul is an official appointment between two territories or countries. The role of consul is generally to protect, assist, and advocate for the citizens or immigrants of the consul’s country to the other nation, and to reinforce trade and political relations between the two nations. As consul, Sottile was an advocate for the Italian community of North Carolina and South Carolina and successfully brought two peonage cases involving exploitation of Italian immigrants to court, and he was instrumental in promoting Italian culture and heritage in Charleston. Sottile was an active statesman and used the Sottile House to entertain Italian dignitaries and local politicians. Sottile was knighted by the Kingdom of Italy for his diplomatic service to the country in 1909.
Sottile and the Consul General Branch in New York were contacted in 1900 by an Italian immigrant who had escaped exploitation in the Pon Pon Phosphate Mine on the Edisto River outside Charleston, South Carolina. The newspaper reported, “according to the unfortunate Italians, who are lured to this city to the mines on the promise of good pay, they are restrained there by armed guards and compelled to work well or sick, under pain of beating or even death, if they refuse, and by an ingenious system they are kept always in the debt of the padrone.” One sick worker who could not return to work was shot dead for disobeying a work order. Sottile appealed to South Carolina Governor McSweeney and investigations ensued. This was the first of three exploitation incidents that Sottile was involved in investigating for possible prosecution.
Incidents of peonage declined thanks to the efforts of progressive “muck-raking” journalists and politicians like Sottile, changing demographics, and better federal regulation of working conditions and workers’ rights. There were no further Italian peonage cases reported in the South Carolina newspapers after the 1906 trial, and Sottile turned his attention to Italian-U.S. diplomatic relations, fostering Italian business ventures, and attracting Italian immigrants to South Carolina for more lucrative work.
As the consulate headquarters, the Sottile House was the setting for diplomatic gatherings and Sottile’s efforts to insert Italian immigrants and culture into the American South. At the height of his diplomatic career, Sottile died unexpectedly at home in 1913, at age 46. During his short life and tenure as Italian consul, Sottile advocated for his fellow Italians in a number of ways, from testifying in court to end the suffering and exploitation of Italian peons in North and South Carolina, to actively creating gainful employment opportunities for Italian immigrants through his model farm in Ladson. His recruitment efforts ultimately failed due to state level prejudices and restrictions against organized Italian immigration to South Carolina. Despite immigration recruiting setbacks, Sottile continued to reinforce diplomatic relations between Italy and the United States, entertaining at the consulate and fundraising on behalf of fellow Italians in their mother country after the earthquakes at the turn on the twentieth century. Sottile was a wealthy man who not only served as a role model for other aspiring immigrants, but also used his place of political and financial advantage to advocate for his fellow countrymen for the duration of his life, and the Sottile House was the place from which most of his endeavors were planned and his diplomatic work took place.