Historically Speaking Spring 2023

Historically Speaking

From the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR W

hen Historic Columbia was founded in 1961 it focused on preservation. The Ainsley Hall House, known today as the Robert Mills House, was under threat of demolition. There was a small group of well-connected people who banded together to save the only home known to have been designed by Mills—the first federal architect of the United States. In tandem with the preservation effort was the promise to use the site for the education of the public, but without this tangible reminder of our past this promise could not be realized. This group grew by enlisting the support of others from sectors across the community: government leaders, bankers, designers, city staff, historians, etc. They pooled their energy, resources, and ideas and worked for years, against a lot of odds, towards this common goal. Ultimately their effort led not only to the preservation of the building at 1616 Blanding Street, but to a host of other properties that are now under the HC umbrella and a legacy of advocacy that is evident in the built environment throughout the city and county.

Sometimes we take for granted the grassroots work necessary to save places. We become accustomed to the presence of landmark properties and assume that the recognition of value and commitment to retention are inherent and unchanging. Sometimes, folks forget that we had to fight. For Historic Columbia, the complacency that others experience around the preservation of our built assets simply is not an option. The fight is in our DNA. And because of that commitment, preservation has become the rule and not the exception in what are character-defining areas of this community: the Congaree Vista, Main Street, Five Points, Lower Richland, and Waverly.

Historic Columbia does a lot of work around the collection and sharing of stories, but without the tangible reminders of place, this becomes more difficult. In addition to the proven economic and cultural benefits of preservation, having a physical reference to a person or an event gives the story a place to reside, serves as a reminder, and affords us the opportunity to acknowledge our past. This is why we do what we do and always work to grow the circle of advocates.

The projects you will read about in this issue of Historically Speaking reveal the commitment of those throughout our community who also recognize the power and importance of preservation. They are up to the task. They are ready for the fight. We celebrate these partners – some who have been in the trenches for decades and some who are at the table for the first time. The door is always open for more. Join us.

Robin Waites Executive Director

SPRING 2023

Volume 63 | Issue 03

President Kim Crafton

1st Vice President Doug Quackenbush

Treasurer Rodrick Shiver

Secretary Carroll Heyward

Historic Columbia preserves places and shares complex stories from the past that connect us in the present and inspire our future.

In This Issue

3 Preservation Leadership Co-Award Winners: Charles “Chuck” Lesser & Karen Quinn

4-7 2023 Annual Preservation Award

Winners

8 Building Richland County

On the cover

Among this year’s award-winning projects are four sites listed in the National Register of Historic Places for their contributions to shaping the capital city’s architectural heritage.

CO-AWARD WINNERSpreservation leadership

CHARLES “CHUCK” LESSER

A resident of Fulton Street in Columbia’s historic Hollywood-Rose Hill neighborhood, Dr. Charles H. Lesser has been a local tour de force in the fields of archives, history, and historic preservation advocacy for nearly five decades. Shortly after earning a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in 1975, Chuck—as he is known by his friends—became assistant director for archives and publications with the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. His love of the state’s history resulted in a professional career offering public access to the historic materials central to understanding the Palmetto State’s evolution from a governmental perspective. At his retirement, Chuck was recognized as Senior Historian Emeritus and regarded as the most knowledgeable scholar in the state on South Carolina’s colonial and Revolutionary-era records.

Since the early 1980s, Chuck has been an historic preservation advocate in his neighborhood, serving as its association

president in 1988 and remaining active on the board for most of the years since. His accomplishments include partnering with Historic Columbia in three phases of historic house research (2018-2023) that resulted in print and web-based neighborhood information about the district’s historic houses, for which he offers walking tours. So much of what residents know about their neighborhood can be directly linked to his willingness to tackle the difficult job of “research done right.”

Chuck’s scholarship and service has impressed fellow scholars and friends alike. Dr. Robert “Bob” Weyeneth, Professor Emeritus and former codirector of the University of South Carolina’s Public History opines “Chuck has been a terrific colleague for me in the Public History Program at USC and a valuable mentor for my students over the years.” Hollywood-Rose Hill Neighborhood Association president Lynn Shirley credits the neighborhood’s historical achievements

to Chuck’s leadership and insight into the partners with whom to work. “Indeed, Chuck has been able to connect people interested in the past with not only tangible links to previous South Carolinians, in his vocation and avocation he has connected us with one another.”

KAREN QUINN

Stories buried and awaiting discovery have fueled Karen Quinn’s lifelong passion for history. Architect and project manager, Karen has become BOUDREAUX’s

leader in historic preservation-based commissions throughout Columbia and the Palmetto State. Karen fosters a commitment to service and preservation, most likely kindled as a young Clemsonstudent volunteer with Historic Columbia while giving tours of the Robert Mills House. Fueled by a professional interest in transforming underutilized or abandoned buildings into community beacons, Karen went on to serve later as a Palladium board member.

One of Karen’s more recent commissions— a project that transformed a late modernist remnant within the Congaree Vista into the Cathy Novinger Leadership Center—resulted in her firm receiving a Historic Columbia Revitalization Award in 2021. This recognition was particularly meaningful to Karen as a Scout Leader and mother of two Girl Scouts who camp in the facility. Karen’s portfolio of projects has involved work on further impressive historic properties, including the Horry Guignard, Taylor, Caldwell-Boylston, and

Lace houses, in addition to the Modjeska Simkins House dependency.

Karen’s love of learning has made her an exceptional preservationist. Preservation Planner with the City of Columbia and past Historic Columbia Preservation Leadership Award winner Amy Moore says, “Karen’s committed approach demonstrates not only an architect’s appreciation for the design and craftsmanship of a structure, but also a real enthusiasm for its cultural history.”

Karen is also a go-to person for unique challenges and expects the highest standards from the her design teams and the contractors executing her work. Moreover, as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-accredited professional, Karen champions how preservation is an inherently sustainable design strategy. Heather Mitchell, president of BOUDREAUX expounds, “No question, Karen is a preservation leader of the highest caliber with the largest heart.”

PRESERVATIONawards

Through our annual preservation awards program, Historic Columbia’s Preservation Committee, comprised of architects, designers, and urban planners, recognize exemplary efforts on the part of businesses, institutions, and individuals that maintain the built heritage of our city and county through preservation-based projects such as rehabilitation or revitalization of historic buildings or construction of new buildings in historic contexts.

Historic Columbia would like to thank the members of the 2023 Preservation Awards committee, including Dale Marshall (Chair), Eugene Bell, Jim Byrum, Esther Maldonado, Adrienne Montare, Doug Quackenbush, Chris Rose, and Tiara Williams.

PRESERVATION, REHABILITATION OR RESTORATION

(Commercial, Institutional, Rental or Municipal)

W. B. SMITH WHALEY HOUSE 1527 GERVAIS STREET

Owners: 1527 Gervais Owner, LLC

Contractor: Mashburn Construction Company

Architect: Brennan Design, LLC

Preservation Consultant: Rogers Lewis

Interior Designer: Tim McLendon

Built between 1892 and 1893, the W. B. Smith Whaley House, known as the home of Dunbar Funeral Home from 1924 until 2008, holds the distinction of being Columbia’s most iconic Queen Anne style former residence. Vacant for over fifteen years, the building has been revitalized through historic tax credits resulting in a mixed-use site that today is home to upscale apartments and a coffee shop. Architects with Brennan Design, LLC and contractors with Mashburn Construction rehabilitated the landmark property in 2022 under the guidance of preservation consultants with Rogers Lewis, who meticulously coordinated with local, state, and federal preservation officers to ensure character-defining facets of the house’s original design remained intact during the transformation. Restorative and rehabilitative work reversed changes made during the funeral home’s tenure while meeting Department of Interior standards.

The building’s floor plan remained largely unchanged, with the coffee shop located in the foyer and parlors and other first-floor rooms accommodating support spaces for the café, two apartments, and fitness and business centers. Second-floor bedrooms became three apartments. The third-floor work involved shifting a portion of the staircase to achieve necessary head-height clearance and to create space for a three-bedroom apartment. Outside, the original wraparound porch, enclosed during the 1950s, was reopened and the missing first-floor turret was rebuilt to reflect the building’s original historic design. The building’s east elevation received a ramp to heighten accessibility to both the café and an ADA unit. Today, this conspicuous landmark reflects the creative vision of its owners, whose dedication to preservation drove a sensitive rehabilitation of a one-of-akind historic property.

THE HAIR BUILDING 734 HARDEN STREET

Owners: Clint & Jenna Wallace

Contractor: McCroy Construction Company

Architect: Dewey Ervin Architecture, LLC

Preservation Consultant: Rogers Lewis

Located within the Five Points National Register Historic District, the ca.-1921 Hair Building remains as one of the village’s oldest commercial buildings. Historically named for its association with prominent lawyer and developer Thomas E. Hair, the two-story masonry building originally featured a two-part plan with first-story retail tenants and second-story professional offices. The building has evolved over the last hundred years, with a host of owners making countless changes and additions that detracted from the property’s historic period of significance. In the spring of 2022, new owners Clint and Jenna Wallace enlisted architect Dewey Ervin, preservation consultant Janie Campbell of Rogers Lewis, and McCrory Construction Company to rehabilitate the historic commercial building into an independent bookstore with the help of

THE KLONDIKE BUILDING 1813 MAIN STREET

Owners: Harris Cohn & Frank Cason

Contractor: Cohn Corporation

Architect: Davis Architecture

Preservation Consultant: Rogers Lewis

With its functional floorplan, minimal ornamentation, and juxtaposition of dark and light colors—all tenets of Modernism—the Klondike Building became a hallmark of futuristic thinking on upper Main Street when the former office building debuted in 1961. Despite the building’s notable beginning as a product of the firm Lafaye, Fair, Lafaye and Associates, the once distinctive property differed drastically from its original aesthetic when Harris Cohn and Frank Cason purchased the property in 2019. Due to a 1983-era renovation, the property could not be included in an expansion of the then-existing National Register district until layers of stucco were removed by Cohn Construction Services

to reveal the original white brick and green granite exterior, and modern windows were removed from the upper levels of the façade. With its mid-century appearance restored, the building became eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Thus, the rehabilitation plan developed by Davis Architecture that followed preservation consultation by Rogers Lewis resulted in twenty-eight apartments funded through historic tax credits. Today, this Main Street destination features a façade with a restored granite elevator tower and storefront and a rooftop addition carefully designed to minimize its visibility while providing an outdoor amenity for the tenants.

historic tax credits. Their work involved removing ca.-1980s exterior stucco and using photographs from 1965 for guidance in reconstructing an historic storefront and façade. Inside, the building retained its existing open layout, while hardwood floors were restored, and historic clerestory windows were refurbished. Cracked quarry tile floor from a 1950s-era rear addition remained while a post-1970s rear addition was removed, providing a rear courtyard for the bookstore. Access to the central staircase was restored to the center of the façade, completing the restoration of the building’s historic appearance. The building’s conversion from a college bar to a family-friendly independent bookstore has done more than revitalize an historic building, it has rejuvenated a neighborhood in flux, giving a reason for Columbians of all ages to venture to Five Points.

1215 SHOP ROAD

Contractor: Hood Construction Company

Architect & Preservation Consultant: Garvin Design Group

Historically used by many textile-related companies, 1215 Shop Road—a one-story brick, light-industrial building constructed in 1950 with additions made around 1954 and between 1955 and 1959—stood vacant for several years. While these additions infilled select door and window openings, the original rectangular building remained largely intact, retaining its stepped parapet façade, barrel vaulted ceilings, bowstring trusses, steel casement windows, and open floor plan original to its use as a garment manufacturing facility. Due to successive garment-related uses, the property maintained a remarkable architectural integrity, including boiler rooms that made it one of the first shirt manufacturing buildings in the United States to use radiant heat.

When Hood Construction Company,

Inc. selected this facility to be its new headquarters, preserving the historic features of the building’s past was placed front and center. The re-imagined facility, crafted by Garvin Design Group, today boasts a central, circular hallway layout that wraps around the centrally located conference and training rooms. Private offices are placed along the outside walls to take advantage of the abundant natural light from the restored original windows, and large expanses of glass and interior storefront systems rise to just below the preserved trusses to provide sightliness throughout the building—an important step in maintaining the structure’s historic sense of openness. Ultimately, the design amplifies the barrel-vaulted ceilings’ aesthetic impact, and the open, loft feel of the interior space serves as a constant reminder of the building’s past.

PRESERVATION, REHABILITATION OR RESTORATION

(Revitalization)

2901 ROSEWOOD DRIVE

Owner: Cason Development Group

Contractor: Boyer Commercial Construction

Architect & Preservation Consultant: Garvin Design Group

Known by many as the former Rosewood Baptist Church, 2901 Rosewood Drive today is 5th & Sloan, a mixed-use, long- and short-term apartments, complemented by restaurant and retail tenant spaces. The adaptation of an ecclesiastical building for residential use—locally unprecedented— reactivated long-vacant buildings and energized a previously underutilized block by supplying much-needed rental housing units to the Shandon and Rosewood neighborhoods. Creative programming, selective demolition, and compatible new construction subtly converted the former religious facility into 49 apartment units and plush common areas. In the old sanctuary, light fixtures below the balcony were preserved and re-purposed elsewhere in the building; wood wainscoting and windowsills were protected and left in place. Existing vaulted ceilings, pendant lights, and stately

chandeliers were retained, as were the front façade’s stained-glass window and steeple. A new three-story addition replaced the building that once housed the fellowship hall and Sunday School classrooms. Internal passageways connect the addition to the east wing of the original church building. Across Sloan Street, the church’s former gym and kitchen building has been transformed into a single-story retail, mixed-use facility. A new two-story mixed-use building at the southwest corner of Sloan Street and Rosewood Drive incorporates elements of both the Rosewood Church building and the renovated one-story building. 5th & Sloan’s quick time to lease up and building its near-constant state of activity are testaments to the project’s timely completion and showcases the promise of Columbia’s ongoing downtown redevelopment.

PRESERVATION, REHABILITATION OR RESTORATION (Residential)

3804 PALMETTO AVENUE

Owner: Ebonn Twilley

Contractor: Hamre Construction

Situated on a lot far larger than its diminutive 600-square foot floorplan, 3804 Palmetto Avenue began as a one bedroom/ one bathroom residence sometime between the 1920s and 1930s in the early Columbia suburb originally known as Park Place. When purchased in 2021, the gablefront house bore signs of multiple updates throughout the years, much of which had stripped its simple charm away. While livable, the building called for a vision that went beyond simply extensive repairs by its new owner. Ebonn Twilley’s plans grew into relocating the kitchen and the bathroom, adding a ½ bath and laundry space, and restoring the original pine clapboard siding then hiding under two layers of additional siding. Demolition by Hamre Construction revealed the house’s front left portion originally had been a

porch and that walls had to be rebuilt. Repurposed heart pine floors restored missing character and various examples of architectural salvage including beadboard from a closet—repurposed as a ceiling in the half bath—and 5-panel doors— some modified into pocket doors—took the interior to a higher plane. Outside, siding and windows were painstakingly restored, and an era-appropriate three-lite front door was installed. Further period additions included a corner cast iron sink, a cast iron clawfoot tub, and recycled historic windows in the master bath and back office. The now custom-rehabilitated home provides short-term tenants with a well-laid-out 1 bedroom/1.5 half bath destination featuring all-new electrical and plumbing, spray-foam insulation, and a fully fenced back yard.

Show off YOUR SUCCESS!

Historic Columbia encourages previous recipients of its annual preservation awards to celebrate their achievements by participating in our Preservation Plaque program. While May is Preservation Month, your property can shine year-round with a handsome, custom metal plaque suitable for your home or business.

To learn more, visit historiccolumbia.org/preservation-plaques.

Coming ATTRACTIONS

Historic Columbia’s calendar has lots to offer! Mark your calendars for these engaging and educational opportunities.

June 8 | Renovation Rodeo: Forest Acres

September 16 | Jubilee: Festival of Black History & Culture

September 28-30 | Fall Plant Sale

October 6 | Release Party & Book Signing for Kugels & Collards

October 19 | Annual Meeting for HC Members

October 19 | Palladium Silent Auction

November 4 | HC Garden Workshop: Bulbs

November 15 | Holiday House Tours Begin

December 9 | Candlelight Tours & Vendor Marketplace

Every second Sunday | Strolls & Rolls History Tours

Every third Sunday | Free Sunday presented by Richland County

Building RICHLAND COUNTY

Building Richland County (BRC) is an interactive, geographic database of Richland County’s historic places and districts. Free to the public and regularly updated, BRC allows researchers, historic preservationists, property owners, community groups, and tourists to better understand the built environment and architectural history of Richland County.

Building Richland County is designed to be intuitive, so feel free to try out its various features. If a tutorial is more your speed, one is available via the “Instructions” button at the top-middle of BRC. Have fun!