South Carolina State House

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South Carolina State House
SC State House at evening.jpg
The South Carolina State House
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South Carolina State House
Interactive map showing the location of South Carolina State House
Location1100 Gervais St., Columbia, South Carolina
Coordinates 34°0′1.56″N81°1′59.33″W / 34.0004333°N 81.0331472°W / 34.0004333; -81.0331472
Built1855;169 years ago (1855)
Architect John R. Niernsee; Et al.
Architectural style Classical Revival
NRHP reference No. 70000598
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJune 5, 1970;54 years ago (1970-06-05) [1]
Designated NHLMay 11, 1976;48 years ago (1976-05-11) [2]

The South Carolina State House is the building housing the government of the U.S. state of South Carolina, which includes the South Carolina General Assembly and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. Located in the capital city of Columbia near the corner of Gervais and Assembly Streets, the building also housed the Supreme Court until 1971. [3]

Contents

The State House is in the Classical Revival style; it is approximately 180 feet (55 m) tall, 300 feet (91 m) long, 100 feet (30 m) wide. It weighs more than 70,000 short tons (64,000  t ) and has 130,673 square feet (12,140 m2) of space.

Old Carolina State House

The old State House was constructed between 1786 and 1790. James Hoban, a young Irishman who emigrated to Charleston shortly after the Revolution, was the architect. Upon the recommendation of Henry Laurens, President Washington engaged him to design the executive mansion in Washington. Old pictures of the two buildings show architectural similarities. [4]

The Old State House was destroyed during the burning of Columbia in 1865.

Historic photos

Architecture

Example of one of the six bronze stars, marking the spots hit by Sherman's cannons Bronze star on SC State House.jpg
Example of one of the six bronze stars, marking the spots hit by Sherman's cannons
View of inside the dome inside the main lobby South Carolina State House Dome, August 2016.jpg
View of inside the dome inside the main lobby
Statehouse underground facility South Carolina Statehouse underground facility.jpg
Statehouse underground facility

The South Carolina State House was designed first by architect P. H. Hammarskold. [5] Construction began in 1851, but the original architect was dismissed for fraud and dereliction of duty. [6] Soon thereafter, the structure was largely dismantled because of defective materials and workmanship. [7] John Niernsee redesigned the structure and work began on it in 1855, slowed during the Civil War, and was suspended in 1865 as General W.T. Sherman's U.S. Army entered Columbia on February 17. Several public buildings were "put to the torch" when United States troops entered the city.

The new capitol building, still under construction, was damaged by artillery shells. The old capitol building was set afire by U.S. Army troops under Sherman's command. [8]

Reconstruction-era poverty slowed progress. The building's main structure was finally completed in 1875. From 1888 to 1891, Niernsee's son, Frank McHenry Niernsee, served as architect and much of the interior work was completed. In 1900 Frank Pierce Milburn began as architect, but was replaced in 1905 by Charles Coker Wilson who finally finished the exterior in 1907. [9] [10] Additional renovations were made in 1959 and 1998.

The State House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 for its significance in the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era. [2] [11]

Grounds

South Carolina State House from the 15th floor of the Main and Gervais Tower South Carolina State House.JPG
South Carolina State House from the 15th floor of the Main and Gervais Tower
Statehouse grounds from the South Columbia, SC Capitol grounds (Southside).jpg
Statehouse grounds from the South

The land around the South Carolina State House has changed dramatically since the construction of the first State House in Columbia in 1786. The grounds were not maniscured or designed and the public consistently commented upon the site as a disgrace to the state. With the erection of the current State House in the 1850s at the center of Main (Richardson) Street, the grounds were extended to Sumter Street to the east but remained an active construction site until after the Civil War and the burning of Columbia and the grounds. [12] The state legislatures following Reconstruction were the first to make plans for the grounds' design. Landscape architect Edward Otto Schwagerl drew plans in 1878 for a picturesque plan of winding paths and drives to surround the building; it made no suggestions for the location or erection of monuments, was only partially executed, and was poorly maintained. Complaints about the grounds led the city's Civic Improvement League to design a plan for the grounds' improvement and expansion as part of a City Beautiful master plan for the city from Boston firm Kelsey & Guild in 1904, but it was never executed. [13] [14] Monuments were added to the grounds during this period with little consideration of their overall configuration or relationship to the building and the public continued to complain about the property's condition into the 1960s. [13]

The State House viewed from the south SC State House from south.jpg
The State House viewed from the south

The grounds also include the following monuments:

Captain Swanson Lunsford (d. 1799), a Virginia-born American Revolutionary War officer who once owned land that is now part of the State House, is buried on State House grounds, along with a marker erected by his descendants in 1953. [36]

African American History Monument: in the rear, 12 panels depict scenes of Africans' and African Americans' enslavement, emancipation (represented in the middle by the obelisk), struggle for civil rights, and contemporary achievements. Front and center is a depiction of slave ship containing enslaved people kidnapped in Africa and transported to North America. 2024 March Columbia SC Monument.jpg
African American History Monument: in the rear, 12 panels depict scenes of Africans' and African Americans’ enslavement, emancipation (represented in the middle by the obelisk), struggle for civil rights, and contemporary achievements. Front and center is a depiction of slave ship containing enslaved people kidnapped in Africa and transported to North America.

See also

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References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. January 23, 2007.
  2. 1 2 "South Carolina State House". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Archived from the original on April 23, 2008. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
  3. "Supreme Court History". South Carolina Judicial Department. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  4. Statehouse history Archived July 12, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  5. Salsi, Lynn Sims (August 1, 2003). Columbia – History of a Southern Capital. Arcadia. p. 50. ISBN   978-0-7385-2411-5.
  6. "The Statehouse". South Carolina State Parks. Archived from the original on July 12, 2011. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  7. "The State House History". South Carolina State House Student Connection. Archived from the original on April 23, 2011. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  8. "The State House History". South Carolina State House Student Connection. Archived from the original on April 23, 2011. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
  9. Bryan, John Morrill (1998). Creating the South Carolina State House. University of South Carolina Press. p. 116. ISBN   978-1-5700-3291-2.
  10. "South Carolina Statehouse, Richland County (Main & Gervais Sts., Columbia)". National Register Properties in South Carolina listing. South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Retrieved March 24, 2008.
  11. Gregory, Mary Jane; Ralph Christian & George R. Adams (December 1975). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: South Carolina Statehouse" (pdf). National Park Service. and Accompanying six photos, exterior and interior, from 1970 and 1975  (32 KB)
  12. 1 2 3 Brandt, Lydia (2021). The South Carolina State House Grounds: A Guidebook. Columbia: University of South Carolina. pp. 34–35. ISBN   978-1-64336-178-9.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Brandt, Lydia (2021). The South Carolina State House Grounds: A Guidebook. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. ISBN   978-1-64336-178-9.
  14. Vivian, Daniel J. (2016). "Kelsey and Guild". South Carolina Encyclopedia.
  15. George Washington Monument, South Carolina State House.
  16. 1 2 3 4 5 Historic Columbia (2020). "State House Monuments Tour".
  17. John Morrill Bryan, Creating the South Carolina State House (University of South Carolina Press, 1999), pp. 39-40
  18. Wade Hampton Monument, Columbia, Digital Public Library of America.
  19. Revolutionary War Generals Monument, South Carolina State House.
  20. 1 2 Brown, Thomas J., "The Confederate Retreat to Mars and Venus" in Battle Scars: Gender and Sexuality in the American Civil War (eds. Catherine Clinton & Nina Silber: Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 189-91.
  21. 1 2 Prince, K. Michael, Rally 'round the Flag, Boys!: South Carolina and the Confederate Flag (University of South Carolina Press, 2004), pp. 23-24.
  22. Exterior Features of the State House
  23. "South Carolina Confederate Monument". The Historical Marker Database. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  24. "Journal of the House of Representatives of the Second Session of the 94th General Assembly of the State of South Carolina." Confederate Flag Vertical File, South Carolina Political Collections, University of South Carolina.
  25. South Carolina Confederate Flag Removal Bill - Video. C-SPAN .
  26. "South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley Signs Confederate Flag Bill Into Law". NPR News. July 9, 2015.
  27. Bill 4895, South Carolina General Assembly, 113th Session, 1999-2000
  28. Justin Curry Davis, Funding South Carolina's Monuments: The Growth of the Corporate Person in Monument Financing (University of South Carolina M.A. thesis, 2017), pp. 11-15.
  29. Upton, Dell, What Can and Can't be Said: Race, Uplift, and Monument Building in the Contemporary South (Yale University Press, 2015), pp. 200-01.
  30. Sarah Larimer, Why a vitriolic Jim Crow advocate is still memorialized on S.C. statehouse grounds, The Washington Post (July 19, 2015).
  31. Marchant, Bristow (August 25, 2017). "Protesters want Confederate monuments removed from SC State House". The State . Columbia. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  32. Feit, Noah (April 17, 2018). "Statue of gynecologist who experimented on slaves removed from NYC, but remains in Columbia". The State. Columbia.
  33. Brown, Deneen L. (August 30, 2017). "A surgeon from SC experimented on slave women without anesthesia. Now his statues are under attack". The State. Retrieved April 18, 2018.
  34. African American History Monument
  35. Renee Sexton, SC honors fallen police officers with memorial service Friday, South Carolina Radio Network (November 10, 2017).
  36. Revolutionary War Soldier Gravesite, South Carolina State House.