Gustave Bernardt Marle House

Gustave Bernardt Marle House. 14 Queen Street. , Located within the boundaries of the early-18th century Walled City, 14 Queen Street is situated on part of Lot 199 of the Grand Modell of Charlestown. Merchant Peter Dawson constructed the two-and-one-half-story masonry building in 1816 following the fire of 1810 that destroyed numerous wooden structures on Cumberland, State, and Queen Streets. The central entry likely reflects the building's original configuration as a merchant dwelling, characterized by ground floor commercial space with formal living quarters above., Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, 14 Queen Street and its dependency operated intermittently as a bakery and retail shop with a residence on the second floor. One of the longest-running businesses was Marle's Bakery, owned and operated by Gustave Bernardt Marle, a German immigrant from Saxony. Marle opened the bakery in 1902 and purchased the building in 1907, residing on site and using the rear dependency as a storehouse. Marle's Bakery became a fixture of domestic life in Charleston and was known for its pumpernickel bread, stollen, and horse cakes, a type of gingerbread., After Marle's Bakery closed in 1952, 14 Queen Street was sold and extensively renovated on the interior, while retaining the original wood-burning fireplaces, wide plank heart pine floors, staircase, and first-floor windows. On Halloween 1958, 14 Queen Street became the site of a tragic, high-profile crime remembered as the "Candlestick Murder." Following a night on the town, Jack Dobbins, a gay man living at 14 Queen, was bludgeoned to death by an Airman stationed at the North Charleston Air Force base. During a sensational trial, the defense and local media portrayed Dobbins as a "deviant" preying on a "normal" young man defending his country. Following brief deliberations, the jury acquitted the killer, creating fear in the local LGBTQ+ community at time of particularly acute repression and prosecution of gay and lesbian people during the Cold War-era communist "Red Scare." Considered today a victim of injustice, Jack Dobbins, an Air Force veteran himself, is buried in Spartanburg, SC.