Historically Speaking Spring 2021

VOLUME

61 ISSUE № 03

Historically Speaking SPRING 2021

Special Preservation Issue

A NEWSLETTER OF HISTORIC COLUMBIA

From the Executive Director

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ach May brings another year to recognize the significant impact of preservation in the community through our annual Preservation Awards during National Preservation Month. Last year, we celebrated our award winners with individual, socially distanced presentations. This year, we hope for something a little closer to normal. Yet, no matter what, we recognize that preservation remains an essential catalyst for reflection and growth in Columbia and Richland County.

As you know, Historic Columbia has been significantly impacted by events of the last 15 months through the ongoing pandemic and civil and social unrest. While the most obvious impact has been a diminished operating budget through the inability to host inperson events and programs, the more important changes have occurred at a deeper level, as we have been forced to reexamine our basic mode of community engagement and core organizational values.

Through having the time and space for internal reflection by the Board of Trustees and staff, we stand firm in the following:

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Historic Columbia continues to operate from the basic tenets established at our founding 60 years ago. We are an organization committed to preservation and education.

The community benefits economically, socially, and culturally from the retention and reuse of historic districts and buildings, and Historic Columbia is the organization that plays a consistent and key role in major successes in this domain.

Due to the significant interpretive shifts at the historic house museums in recent years and the research-based advocacy on issues related to race and underrepresented communities, the organization is uniquely positioned to be not only a resource for inquiry-based learning, but a voice in building a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community.

Historic Columbia is an important pillar in the past, present, and future quality of life in Columbia and Richland County.

Being forced to trim down and to refine our work has allowed us to recommit to what is most important and to be a better partner for this community.

After a long year, it is wonderful to pen a letter that offers insight into this internal renewal, but also that celebrates the work beyond Historic Columbia of so many dedicated professionals, property owners, and advocates. The annual Preservation Awards newsletter issue is always one that offers a sense of hope, inspiration, and sense of pride. It’s hard to think of a more appropriate way to re-emerge from the challenges of 2020 and 2021.

Historically Speaking Spring 2021 | Volume 61 | Issue 03 President Gina Lesslie 1st Vice President Mark Jones 2nd Vice President Kim Jamieson Treasurer Jamie Keller Secretary Jeff Payne We share the complex history of Columbia and Richland County through historic preservation advocacy, innovative educational programs, and strategic partnerships.

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Preservation Leadership Award: Amy Moore Columbia Downtown Historic Resources Survey Preservation Awards

On the cover A Preservation Award winner in the Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration category, 1337 Assembly Street. Image courtesy of Oswald Design+Creative

Congratulations to this year’s recipients. In the months ahead, we look forward to visiting the places that you have so carefully tended to – IN PERSON.

Robin Waites Executive Director

Visit us online: www.historiccolumbia.org

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HISTORIC COLUMBIA | NEWSLETTER

preservation

AWARDS

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ach year, Historic Columbia presents its Preservation Awards to celebrate the accomplishments of local property owners; professionals in the fields of architecture, construction, and design, and leaders who champion preservation as an opportunity to support the economy and culture of Richland County. These awards recognize local projects that have maintained or added to the historical, architectural, and cultural richness of the Midlands. To ensure the program remains relevant and captures the nuances in today’s field, minor changes were made to the award categories this year.

Amy Moore, winner of the 2021 Preservation Leadership Award, is described as a “preservation superhero.”

Historic Columbia would like to thank the 2021 Preservation Awards committee: Lydia Brandt, Esther Maldonado, Dale Marshall, Adrienne Montare, Doug Quackenbush, Chris Rose, and Tiara Williams.

PRESERVATION LEADERSHIP AWARD: AMY ELIZABETH MOORE By balancing passion with patience and compassion with regulations, Amy Moore, an 18-year public servant, has established a legacy of success, despite often having to contend with uncooperative or competing interests, negotiating political minefields, and working long hours.

Her success is measured both in the residential and commercial properties preserved for individual and community benefit and in the number of property

owners, developers, contractors, architects, and fellow preservationists who have benefited from her knowledge, vision, and perseverance.

As the Principal Preservation Planner in the City of Columbia’s Planning and Development Office, this year’s recipient has served as a guiding light and an inspiration to citizens and fellow personnel committed to ensuring a better quality of life in the capital city through the retention and revitalization of its architectural and cultural assets.

With an appreciation for both preservation on a micro and a macro

level, Amy embodies the characteristics of an enlightened and driven public servant whose behind-the-scenes efforts allow the properties and the other persons involved in their preservation and revitalization to shine. Considered “hands-down outstanding!” Amy has been noted to “climb tall buildings, tiptoe on structurally questionable floors” and crawl around “tight, moldy, and spidery places” for the sake of doing the right thing, all the while “maintaining … a kind and generous spirit” and making friends along the way. Few would argue against calling her like we see her — a preservation superhero in our midst.

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A Timely Product for

PRESERVING THE PAST Columbia Downtown Historic Resources Survey

The ca.-1906 Queen Anne house at 1430 Cherokee Street was built by local druggist and soda water entrepreneur, Dr. O.E. Thomas, as a speculative mid-block residential development.

The most ornate of the homes built on the block, it likely served as a promotional anchor to attract development. Image courtesy of Staci Richey, Access Preservation Erected in 1936 for the Kirby Food Store, then1516 Taylor Street is the most intact building of the commercial corridor established on this block in the 1930s. In October 1952, the grocery’s successor — the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Company — adorned the structure’s dynamic Art Deco façade with a large neon sign. Image courtesy of Staci Richey, Access Preservation

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n Sept. 28, 2020, amid the throes of a modern-day pandemic, local historic preservationists Staci Richey of Access Preservation and Dr. Lydia Brandt provided city planners, elected officials, fellow historians, and average citizens with a prescriptive resource to ensure the future health of Columbia’s cultural resources.

Aimed at identifying historically important properties for their potential retention and protection as the capital city continues to evolve, the Columbia Downtown Historic Resource Survey meshes contemporary fieldwork with in-depth archival research and contributions from a host of individuals familiar with local history and preservation-related entities including the City of Columbia Planning and Development Office, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History (SCDAH), the University South Carolina (UofSC), and Historic Columbia (HC).

Time and circumstances shaped Brandt and Richey’s work. With traditional

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repositories shuttered due to COVID-19, the colleagues relied heavily on a rich offering of online databases, photographic collections, and digitized newspapers and city directories —resources formerly only accessible in-person when the last survey was completed in 1993.

Their respective personal archival collections, which, according to Brandt, “amounted to a library” when combined, provided further helpful information. At the time Dr. John Bryan assembled his earlier city-wide survey nearly 30 years ago, mid-century modern structures were considered far too recent to be historic.

However, under Brandt and Richey’s contemporary lens, examples of the movement that shaped the state capital between the late 1940s through the early 1970s proved worthy of inclusion.

Brandt and Richey established their geographic scope of the survey through the assistance of City of Columbia staff who issued parcel maps with buildings erected between 1940 and 1975, although any site created before 1975 was eligible for the

HISTORIC COLUMBIA | NEWSLETTER

Erected in 1951, the iconic Taylor Street landmark of Leevy’s Funeral Home, received distinction in the National Register of Historic Places in January 2021 for its role in African American community building during segregation. Image courtesy of Staci Richey, Access Preservation

survey. Each site was then photographed, an architectural description rendered, and the information recorded in a database provided by SCDAH personnel.

The survey team documented every structure or site that was created before 1975, except for those already determined eligible for listing or already listed individually or considered a contributing structure in a National Register of Historic Places district.

Reduced downtown traffic from COVID-19 granted safer conditions and unspoiled viewsheds when photographing buildings located on typically busy streets like Taylor, Bull, and Huger.

“You could literally stand in the middle of the street,” mused Richey, whose efforts along those thoroughfares documented structures that, for some, may seem at first blush unlikely sites to include in the survey. “One of my favorite sites is the City’s Assembly Street parking deck, which was designed by LBC&W. It fits so well into the surrounding landscape. The aesthetic just works.”

The University of South Carolina’s Thomas Cooper Library is a 1959 New Formalist building designed by Lyles, Bissett, Carlisle & Wolff, architects with Edward Durrell Stone. Image courtesy of Lydia Brandt, PhD

Built in 1966 on the northeast corner of Taylor and Assembly streets, Columbia’s first municipal parking garage was the elegant design of Lyles, Bissett, Carlisle and Wolff, architects, and Wilbur Smith & Assoc., engineers. It remains as one of the few mid-century sites with original landscape design features.

Image courtesy of Staci Richey, Access Preservation The ca.-1971 modern office building at 1002 Calhoun Street in the heart of one of Columbia’s oldest residential historic districts embodies the changes to the area that prompted calls for preservation in the 1970s. Image courtesy of Staci Richey, Access Preservation Opened on June 30, 1929, as Smith’s Service Station, today 2032 Sumter Street is home to Clark’s Auto Clinic and bears the distinction of being the oldest surviving gas station in the survey area.

Image courtesy of Staci Richey, Access Preservation

Examples of other LBC&W efforts, along with the work of their contemporaries and earlier firms, abound throughout the 224page report. Of the 721 resources surveyed, 424 were built between 1945-1975, or during the modern era of architecture.

Providing the context in which architects’ designs were physically manifested proved central in crafting Brandt and Richey’s survey.

admitted that she and Richey faced at times a daunting challenge.

Noting factors such as systemic racism, institutional growth, politics, and economics, among others, that shaped our cityscape proved equally important as dissecting the type, style, and forms of buildings. “Our work went well above the level of what you’d find in a typical survey,” explained Brandt.

Masterfully researched and illustrated, Brandt and Richey’s latest contribution to local history doubtless will prove indispensable for practitioners of preservation and urban planning while offering everyday citizens intriguing insights into how (and why) their city evolved up until the mid- to late-20th century.

Their survey allowed Brandt and her colleague to coalesce “a lot of random knowledge gathered over the years” to form a master narrative that involves previous research work of UofSC students, in-depth micro-studies of specific building trends, such as named apartments from the 1930s through 1950s, etc. Brandt

“We had to hold back and not offer too much detail,” Brandt said. Despite such “problems” of having too much information from which to choose, both admit the experience of studying the evolution of the capital city was gratifying and worthwhile.

The final report is available on SCDAH’s website at scdah.sc.gov.

About the project consultants Lydia Mattice Brandt has taught the history of architecture and the theories and methods of historic preservation at UofSC since 2011.

She is the author of two books, most recently a guidebook on the South Carolina State House grounds (available from UofSC Press in May 2021), and a number of National Register of Historic Places nominations in Columbia, including ones for Olympia Mill Village, Five Points, and 1200 Main Street.

Staci Richey is the owner of Access Preservation and Vintage Window Repair. A 16-year veteran in historic preservation, she moved to Columbia in 2002 to pursue her master’s degree in public history (historic preservation) from UofSC. She consults on historic building and museum projects and has produced exhibits for the Olympia Mill Village Museum and the Blythewood Historical Society and Museum.

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PRESERVATION

awards

PRESERVATION, REHABILITATION OR RESTORATION (Commercial, Institutional, Rental or Municipal) 915 LADY STREET/NABISCO WAREHOUSE Owner: Avant Holdings, LLC Architect: 1x1 Design, Inc. General Contractor: Weathers Contracting Company 1X1 Design teamed with Weathers Contracting to realize an historically inspired vision that involved reversing previous renovations at this ca.-1932 Art Deco-style Vista property. Owner Avant Holdings faithfully met Department of the Interior standards for rehabilitating historic structures to ensure the character of this National Registerlisted structure remained intact. Highlights involved stripping paint from the building’s brick and pre-cast concrete façade, refurbishing original steel-sash windows, installing custom designed roll-up doors, reconditioning existing coiling doors, and reorienting the floorplan to afford tenants with maximum natural light. Further enhancements included brick repointing, hardwood and concrete floor refinishing, and removing gypsum board to expose original wood rafters.

1337 ASSEMBLY STREET Owner: Swampfox, Inc. Architect: Lambert Architecture + Construction Services General Contractor: Hood Construction Lambert Architecture + Construction Services and Hood Construction successfully balanced respecting the character of the former Columbia Electric Street Railway, Light & Power Company substation building with meeting the needs of its current owner, Bob Cooper of Swampfox, Inc. Between 2019 and 2020, the ca.-1900 building received a new lobby and entry stair, offices, collaboration areas, bathrooms, storage space, and an employee recreation area on its first floor. Following federal rehabilitation standards, the team dramatically improved the structure’s rooftop by extending an existing monitor to create a covered, naturally ventilated gathering space that dramatically enhances the building’s functionality and introduces a new chapter in the 120-year-old landmark’s history.

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HISTORIC COLUMBIA | NEWSLETTER

PRESERVATION, REHABILITATION OR RESTORATION (Residential)

2414 LINCOLN STREET Owner: Victoria and T.J. Clayton General Contractor: Matt Varnerr With 30 years of construction management under his belt, Matt Varner leveled a skeptical eye at the initial prospects of a project potentially fraught with unforeseen hurdles. Fortunately, upon further inspection (and introspection), the veteran contractor opted to transform a diamond in the rough into a jewel of a home for owners Victoria and T.J. Clayton, a couple drawn to the historic Elmwood neighborhood for its charm and proximity to downtown amenities. Varner’s quest to renovate the 105-year-old, singlefamily-residence-twice-turned-duplex required adhering to architectural conservation district standards germane to this early Columbia suburb. Replacing deteriorated siding with in-kind materials; switching out inappropriate windows with aesthetically accurate ones, and installing a new roof sealed the envelope of the structure whose interior renovation came to include new walls, flooring, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems, while a master suite and a luxurious en suite bathroom left the American Four Square-style residence well poised for another century of service in style.

REVITALIZATION/ALL CATEGORIES ROSEWOOD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL LIBRARY Owner: Richland County School District One Architect: Quackenbush Architects + Planners General Contractor: Penn Contracting, LLC Embracing contemporary educational pedagogy lay at the heart of creating an environment supportive of fluid networks of inspirational activities, gathering, and collaboration. Need for a modern reading room, conference areas, maker space, and support areas required construction of a modern addition to the existing, 1930s-era, historic school building.

1107 WILLIAMS STREET/ CATHY NOVINGER GIRL SCOUT LEADERSHIP CENTER

The addition’s siting and deferential size minimizes visual impact on the original structure while keeping the new construction inconspicuous. Aesthetically, the addition, with its deep red brick and shingled hipped roof, takes cues from the original structure without directly copying it. A glass lightwell projects from the roofline, introducing soft natural lighting into the reading room while also recalling the iconic image of a traditional schoolhouse cupola in a modern and functional way.

1321 LADY STREET/ 1321 LOFTS

Owner: Girl Scouts of South Carolina Mountains to Midlands Architect: BOUDREAUX General Contractor: Landmark Builders Creation of an inspiring, flexible, and colorful leadership and programmatic center within the shell of a late modernist building erected in 1971, proved the value of revitalizing historic structures from the recent past. Reductive modification of the building’s apron resulted in a pedestrian-friendly, humanscale entrance revealing original construction methodology and offering an allusion to the once-open ground floor that accommodated parking but was later enclosed for greater office space. As exterior treatments respected guidelines of the Innovista Design Overlay District, needs to meet programmatic concepts like global citizenship, business and enterprise, the arts, healthy living and outdoor education resulted in themedriven interior (and exterior) spaces to accommodate various-sized Girl Scout groups. By blending architectural innovation with keen interior design choices, this straightforward, late20th century Vista structure stands as a victory to retaining historic structures that, until recently, were viewed as “too new” for preservation.

Owner: Capitol Places Architect: J. Lesesne Monteith General Contractor: Mashburn Construction Developmentally sequestered and abandoned for years, Columbia’s largest tilt-slab constructed building proved to be a worthy candidate for revitalization into downtown residential space. This vision came to be between 2018 and 2019, as the historic Owens Building, erected in 1949 following a design by the prominent firm of Lafaye, Lafaye and Fair, benefited from both federal historic tax credits (made possible by its inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places in 2013) and from the Bailey Bill, which made the 130-unit project financially feasible. Working under the direction of architect Lesesne Monteith, Mashburn Construction completed the $25-million-dollar initiative that transformed the former office building into the largest non-student, residential development ever realized in the downtown commercial district.

1649 MAIN STREET/HENDRIX Owner: Main & Blanding, LLC Architect: Garvin Design Group General Contractor: Hood Construction This mid-19th-century building’s long-time vacancy and condition of disrepair prompted a comprehensive revitalization that activated four distinct levels from basement to rooftop deck. Removal of carpet and drop ceilings revealed previously obscured hardwood floors and historic trusses and tin ceilings. A late-20th-century mezzanine and sections of the adjoining, northern, sidewalk were removed, while a modern storefront was detailed to mimic an earlier 1940s-era precedent. Second story and rooftop upfit in 2018 granted the requisite space for Hendrix restaurant while work in 2019 of the basement and ground floors resulted in a new home for The Woody, Columbia’s longtime dance club.

Revitalization of this corner property has both anchored the block’s northern end while stimulating further investment in contiguous properties to its south, proving once again that visionaries can inspire others to find contemporary value in historic buildings.

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1601 Richland Street

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Columbia, SC 29201

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www.historiccolumbia.org

NONPROFIT ORG USPOSTAGE PAID COLUMBIA, SC PERMIT #1000

Metropolitan Columbia, South Carolina,

Map, ca. 1975.

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y the mid-1970s, Columbia businesses often provided customers and visitors with maps (and other booster literature) emblazoned with Columbia’s honorific title of “All America City,” which the city earned following immense redevelopment during the 1960s and early 1970s. Such growth irrevocably altered the capital city’s skyline in ways good and bad, as later generations would come to understand.

Historic Columbia collection