Institute Hall stood here when South Carolina left the Union

The South Carolina Institute built a hall on this site in 1854 to promote art, mechanical skill, and industry. Designed by the firm of Jones and Lee in the Italianate style, the building contained a Grand Hall that seated 3,000 people, making it the largest public room in Charleston. It hosted fairs, exhibitions, concerts, and political conventions.

In April 1860, the Democratic National Convention met in the Grand Hall and split apart over the wording about slavery in the party platform. This division helped put Abraham Lincoln in the White House. Following Lincoln's election in November, South Carolina called a secession convention. The delegates met first in Columbia on December 17, moved to Charleston the next day, and voted to leave the Union on December 20. That night, the delegates signed the Ordinance of Secession in the Grand Hall in front of a crowd.

A year and nine days after the signing, the hall was destroyed by a fire that had nothing to do with the war. On December 11, 1861, the fire started at Russell and Company's sash factory at the foot of Hasell Street and East Bay. A north-easterly wind carried the flames across Hasell Street, where they took Cameron and Company's machine shop and ran through the middle of the city.

The fire burned 540 acres, destroying an estimated 500 houses, hundreds of businesses, at least two civic buildings, and five churches, including the Circular Church and the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St John and St Finbar. It took close to a third of Charleston's buildings. Robert E. Lee, who was in the city to inspect the defences, watched the fire approach from the roof of the Mills House hotel. When the flames reached Institute Hall, Lee left for the Edmondston-Alston House on East Battery.