Grace Piexotto was likely born sometime in the late 1700s, but we cannot really be sure of the exact date. In fact, Grace herself may not have known the exact date of her birth. We know from Grace's own recollections that she witnessed a speech by George Washington at a young age and this particular appearance by our first president occurred after the Revolutionary war. Thus Grace must have been born sometime in the late 1700s. According to some records Grace was the daughter of Selomoh Piexotto, a music leader at Beth Elohim Synagogue in Charleston, SC. According to others, Grace did not know who her parents were and she was raised in a brothel. Then again Grace was fairly notorious in her time and notoriety breeds legend. It is much more likely that Grace was the daughter of a religious Jew than that she was raised in a brothel.
In any case Grace grew up to be a brazen and bold businesswoman. She defied convention. She did what society forbade her. By 1852 Grace had somehow come up with enough money to build a brothel. This was no small feat my friends. First, it was very difficult for a woman to have anything constructed in the mid 1800s. Women simply did not have buildings built and should a woman decide she wanted to have a building constructed gender norms of the time made it nearly impossible for her to do so. Second, Grace hardly hid the fact that she intended to use this new building as a brothel. She would have had to possess not only enough money to construct the building, buy the materials, and pay the laborers; Grace would have needed enough money to bribe city officials for a building permit. Somehow, despite all the obstacles against her, Grace had one of the most infamous brothels in all of Charleston, SC raised from the ground up in 1852.
This brothel came to be called the "Big Brick", likely because the structure itself was made of big red bricks. So in 1852 Grace opened the doors of 11 Beresford Street, currently called Fulton Street, and set her girls to work. The Big Brick offered patrons something most other brothels did not: privacy. The upper floors were divided into several very small rooms. These rooms were just large enough for a bed, after all Grace was a wise businesswoman and she knew a bed was all her clients required. She also knew that the men who frequented her establishment would appreciate the privacy afforded by a wall. Most brothels had several beds crammed in larger rooms and such an arrangement often meant that men would quite literally see their friends and relatives "going about their business" if you will. Of course no man wanted his comrades to know that he frequented a whore house, so you can see why Grace's innovation was much appreciated.
Grace also required discretion of all her girls. She would fire anyone foolish enough to publicly greet a client. Upper crust gentleman appreciated such discretion and Grace's Red Brick was soon the brothel of choice among the higher classes. The Red Brick quickly became a popular port of call for sailors and free blacks as well. If you could pay Grace would give you a good time. If you couldn't pay--well Grace would just see to it that you didn't come back. In fact, brazen Grace Piexotto was so upset by students from the College of Charleston that she wrote the faculty of the college a letter asking them to keep their students away from her establishment.
City leaders turned a blind eye to Grace's establishment, likely because many of them were frequent customers. Grace was well educated and pretty savvy so she became quite wealthy. She lived in style.
Grace also died in style. When Grace died the local churches argued over who was going to have to bury her. None of the churches wanted to be responsible for burying the most notorious Madam in the South. The Unitarian Church finally stepped up and paid for Grace to have a funerary service. Of course who could attend a hooker's funeral? No man could dare show his face at Grace's service because then the whole town would know how he knew her. No woman would socialize with a prostitute, even a wealthy one. What about the "ladies" who worked for Grace? Well they figured the men in the town would need consoling so they went to work and were otherwise disposed at the time of her service. They figured Grace would understand, and she probably would have too.
So no one came to Grace's funeral. However, Charleston has a quite a strange tradition. If you find yourself unable to attend a friend's funeral then you can send your empty carriage to be a part of the funeral procession in your place. The longer the funeral procession, the more loved you were by the town. Apparently local men saw nothing wrong with sending their empty carriages to be part of Grace's procession. Grace had the 2nd longest funeral procession in the history of Charleston, SC--topped only by John Calhoun, a politician.
The Big Brick was the hub of Charlestonian prostitution until the 1940s when the city finally shut it down. The infamous building still stands and is currently home to an upscale retailer.
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