Christopher W. Werner (1805–1875) was a nineteenth-century wrought iron manufacturer, artisan, and entrepreneur based in Charleston, South Carolina, US.

He was highly influential, completing high-quality iron design and manufacture in Charleston and throughout the state, including gates, architectural ornamentation, and balconies.

Werner became known while still a young man as a carriage maker, blacksmith, wrought iron worker, and a businessman.

[2] Werner strove "to show what could be accomplished in Charleston in the adornment of edifices, to make it worthy of the name of 'Queen City of the South.

A well-known work of Werner's was the spiral and finial of St. Matthew's Lutheran church on King Street.

[1] He was known for his manufacture in 1853 of the wrought iron Palmetto Monument, located on the Capitol grounds in Columbia.

[B][C][1][9][10] The lifelike tri-colored metal sculpture—"scarcely distinguishable from a real tree"[11]—was designed by Henry Steenken, who worked in Werner's shop.

[1] After it was toppled and shattered by a "freak" February 3, 1939, tornado, the monument and the plates with the names of the war dead were restored.

He was relying upon his execution of the sculpture, and the tree's importance as a secular and cultural icon, to enable him to be paid for it.

[D] The question of payment for the monument and for the associated plaques became embroiled in politics, leaving Werner unhappy and dissatisfied.

Werner had made the wrought iron work for the original owner, Thomas N. Gadsden.

The Rutledge house incorporates two of Werner's favored design elements: palmettos and eagles.

[18] Werner also made the entrance gate to Judge Simonton's house at Tradd and Legare streets.

The Hall was later associated with the National Democratic Convention of 1860, a critical political assembly in United States history.

Democratic divisiveness is believed to have contributed to Republican Abraham Lincoln winning the presidency that year.

According to traditional folklore, some of Charleston’s "finest" cast iron gates were cut down during the American Civil War and reworked as horseshoes.

A large wrought-iron cross was erected at his grave, near the entrance to the St. Lawrence Roman Catholic cemetery, Charleston.

[1] Father Daniel J. Quigley, a priest from Charleston's Roman Catholic Cathedral, officiated at the funeral.