Construction Equipment Guide
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Wed August 09, 2000 - Southeast Edition
The Historic Columbia Foundation has awarded Historic Preservation awards to five projects for their efforts to celebrate and preserve the rich architectural heritage of Columbia, SC. “Architects and citizens submit nominations of Midlands area preservation projects that improve our community’s appearance and protect our environment for the future,” said Phelps Bultman, chairman of the awards jury.
The old storefront building (circa 1895) at 1530 Main St. won an award in the Adaptive Reuse and Preservation/Restoration category. To comply with federal regulations, the owner, Carter Properties (Patz and Ray Carter), worked with Architrave Inc. (architectural firm) and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History to complete a lengthy certification process for renovation of historic structures. They obtained copies of the plans for all previous modifications to the structure and photographs of the original bank’s interiors. “This project’s main objective was to restore the original character of the old bank building while renovating it for residential and business use,” said Dale Marshall of Architrave.
The Carters, who had admired the old building for some time, bought it in 1996. “When we saw that it was for sale, we also noticed that the old Macy’s building across the street was going to be renovated and that we would have the new Museum of Art there,” said Patz Carter. With encouragement from the city of Columbia and Architrave’s evaluation of the building’s potential, the renovation got under way. “The building, which we determined to be Richardsonian [H.H. Richardson] Romanesque style, was a series of banks, and we found photos and information on some of the bank board meetings in Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina,” said Ray Carter.
The building was an Eckerd’s store from 1936 until the 1980s, and there was no access to the upstairs, which Eckerd’s used for its cooling and heating system. The original arch windows were bricked in, and the fireplaces had been used for duct work. Now there are apartments on the second and third floors (one on each) complete with fireplaces restored to their original beautiful and useful state. The first floor, now renovated for use by a business or agency, has its original double doors replaced, and there is a spiral staircase to the small fourth floor.
To alleviate the parking problems in the Main Street area, approximately 100 ft. of the rear of the building, which was approximately 12,000 sq. ft., were demolished to make way for parking spaces. “We used a Komatsu excavator, Case skid steers, Case backhoes, an International crawler loader, and an Atlas air compressor, on that job,” said Dick Key of Lyn-Rich Construction. The company, which is based in West Columbia, SC, also gutted the interior of the building’s basement to prepare that level for a coffee shop and courtyard. “We sealed the old bricks with a clear sealer, constructed new restrooms, and now have 2,000 square feet of space for a new business,” said Key. Lyn-Rich does construction and demolition work, and renovation accounts for 40 percent of its business.
Flinn Hall at the University of South Carolina won in the Restoration category. Built in 1860, the building was a home facing Sumter Street when Sherman came through Columbia during the War Between the States. In later years, the building was moved back from Sumter Street to make way for the the Confederate War Memorial building and damaged by fire during roofing work. Portions of the structure, including its front porch, were removed. By referring to historic photographs, architects were able to recapture the building’s original design. “We worked on the renovation for two years, bringing the interior and exterior of the building back to its historic character,” said Chuck Hulstrand of The Boudreaux Group.
Ideal Construction Company, which had a contract for $1.3 million to renovate Flinn Hall, worked with the University of South Carolina’s Construction Services department. “We started by gutting the interior, and we put in new roof joints and installed a copper roof,” said Lee Hammersla of Ideal Construction. He enjoys the unexpected aspect of renovation work and was fascinated to find a Columbia Record newspaper clipping from 1916 in the old house.
“Flinn Hall now has 10,400 square feet of comfortable classroom space and houses the University of South Carolina’s Women’s Studies and African-American Studies departments,” said University of South Carolina Director of Construction Services Ed Bass; it also has its old charm and character.
McMaster College of the University of South Carolina (corner of Pickens and Senate Streets) won in New Construction in an Historic Context and Preservation/Restoration category. A “sympathetic” wing, similar in design to the original structure, was added. Susan Blackwell was the university’s project manager, and Wise Construction won the contract for $7.7 million. Stevens and Wilkinson was the project’s architectural firm.
Although an addition from the 1930s was demolished, the new wing has grown McMaster College from a 51,000-sq.-ft. facility to a 75,000-sq.-ft. one. “We eliminated a portion that was clay tile with plaster, not bricks,” said Ed Bass of the university’s Construction Services. According to him, one of the greatest challenges of the project was the seismic retrofit necessary to protect McMaster from earthquake damage. “There were load bearing masonry walls on wooden floors, and we had to put steel frame in and anchor the walls to the floor joists,” said Bass. Extensive excavation work had to be done for the pouring of concrete footing for steel frames, and jackhammers had to be used to break up the compacted clay.
The Municipal Association of South Carolina building at 1411 Gervais St. won an award in the New Construction in an Historic Context category. Project planning started in 1994; construction began in June 1998, and the Municipal Association moved in in 1999.
The new building is on property that was once home to the old S&S Cafeteria and several other structures. “Our goals were to complement Columbia’s turn-of-the-century brick buildings in the Vista and Main street areas and to have a quality facility to meet the needs of the Municipal Association,” said Howard Duvall Jr., executive director of the association. Cheraw Brick made the bricks for the new building. “The brick design is now marketed as Municipal Brick and is selling for other Columbia area building projects,” said Duvall.
Strategic planning included having association staff members explore Columbia taking photos of buildings that appealed to them. “We voted on the photos, and the result is a building that I think incorporates the very best of Columbia’s traditional architecture,” said Duvall. The exterior of the first floor has an old retail store front look, which is repeated in the Municipal Association’s offices on the first and second floors.
He was pleased with the site chosen for the new building because it affords visibility near the State House, which is important to the Municipal Association’s lobbying efforts. “We also wanted to have a construction project that could be used as a learning tool for other cities,” he said.
The Keenan Company of Columbia was responsible for construction management of the project. The Boudreaux Group was the architectural firm, and Bovis Construction was the general contractor. “We worked with Bovis throughout the project on a modified design-build concept basis,” said Doug Quackenbush of Boudreaux. The project was completed on time, and it came in under budget. According to Duvall, the intricacy of the brick work was one of the challenges that could have jeopardized that achievement. “MCI [of Lancaster, SC], the masonry contractor, used motorized scaffolding, and to my knowledge, this had never been done on a project in South Carolina,” he said. Motorized scaffolding reduced the cost and time that would have been required to reach the upper brick work.
Logan Elementary School on Elmwood Avenue won in the Preservation/Restoration category. Surrounding neighborhoods, including Elmwood, Earlewood, and Cottontown, encouraged Richland County School District One to restore the circa 1913 school building.
These projects are evidence that Columbia is making progress toward what University of South Carolina’s co-director of public history, Robert Weyeneth, called “effective community planning that joins aesthetics with economics, private energy with public purpose, and inheritance of the past with the promise of change.”