Isaac Wolfe Banov | Joseph A. Volaski
Banov & Volaski, selling “clothing, mens furnishings, haberdashers, traveling bags etc.,” moved to this site from their earlier location at 383–385 King Street (the opposite corner of Calhoun Street), around 1920. Within three years, Wolfe Banov was in New York, and his kinsman by marriage and business partner, J. A. Volaski was sole proprietor.
In 1925, the business went into bankruptcy; the building and all the stock were sold. A few months later, Joseph A. Volaski rented the commercial space from its new owners, and reopened Banov & Volaski. The enterprise failed two years later when Volaski died at the age of sixty-three. His wife, Agnes, and their daughter, Corinne Volaski, managed to keep the store open a little longer. In early 1930, C. C. Foor leased 381 King Street to remodel it as a café.
Volaski mizrah
Mizrah, Hebrew for "east," and the name used for a wall hanging or plaque placed on the eastern wall of a home in the western hemisphere to indicate the direction to face (toward Jerusalem) while worshiping. Made by Mordecai Judah Patla (ca. 1852–1925) and presented to Agnes and Joseph A. Volaski on their wedding day, May 6, 1890, Charleston, S.C. Paper and ink, gold gilt, and metal clasps. Courtesy of Brith Sholom Beth Israel.
Newspaper advertisement, November 16, 1924
Courtesy of Charleston County Public Library.