The Devil Is In the Details

A couple of years ago, the newly renovated 1790's Charleston County Courthouse was being touted in the local press as the new jewel of the city's preservation efforts. A rare survivor, this one time "State House" also served as the seat of the Colonial Commons House of Assembly. The site and the building was considered so important it was argued that its renovation should become a new gold standard for retrofitting historic public spaces for the 21th century.

Previous renovations and modernizations had destroyed all but the perimeter walls and roof line of the original Courthouse. By the 1940's the unusual 18th century chimneys had been removed and Charlestonians apparently didn't miss them. The building was severely damaged during Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and lost most of its standing seam metal roof. For more than 10 years the important building was vacant awaiting a total and very expensive renovation. When it was finally completed a couple of years ago, much was said about returning to the original slate roof and the "restoration" of the original chimneys. These would be based on the original designs as seen in many 19th century photographs.

Whatever remained of the interior fabric was believed to have been lost during the 1940's renovations. As part of the total restoration, the entire interior of the Courthouse was gutted, floors, walls, roof and all, from the dirt footings to the sky. Any evidence of original walls and chimneys would be found only in the remaining brick footings, and much of these could no longer be found. Photographs provided some of the most solid evidence on how the exterior looked and guided estimates on how the interior was arranged.

Though the 1790's appearance was the goal, accomodations had to be made for including modern conveniences including elevators and water closets. It was also somewhat understandable that no functioning fireplaces were "restored" to the interior rooms. What might pass as chimneys were cleverly used as utility chases for air ducts serving the modern heating and cooling systems. It is doubtful that anyone would really want the building to outfitted with genuine wood burning fireplaces.

Despite some accomodations for change, one of its more obvious exterior details seems quite out of place, even cheap, as part of the $14 million renovation. Keep in mind that the Courthouse was described at the time as one of nation's more historically important public buildings. The problem is with the newly "restored" chimneys which are nothing more that stucco over plywood and aluminum framing bolted to the newly installed slate roof.

Go figure. We spend that much money on a "restoration" of such an important public building and they approve what in effect are four box kites as fake chimneys. I suspect these are just like those fiberglass steeples that are found on so many country churches in order to overcome years of steeple envy. Just like the fake steeples, these four masonry wanna-be's will become highly destructive missiles flying through the air the next time a category 2 or higher hurricane blows through town. The slate may survive the storm but survival of such flimsy chimney look-a-likes is highly unlikely. So why didn't they just do the real thing when they had the chance? A masonry utility chase makes far more sense than one framed in wood and wrapped in sheetrock. That would be good maintenance management decision.

The same reasoning might apply to the exterior chimney finish to each interior chase. The city's Board of Architectural Review is reportedly not fond of faux finishes. This would include fake chimneys fashioned from plywood, especially when applied to such an important and highly visible building located in the center of the historic district. Since this was a very high profile project and was planned and completed under the BAR's watchful eye all within the last 10 years, you have to wonder if anyone is really checking the details.

The first photograph comes from the collections of the Library of Congress and dates from the late 19th century showing the original masonry chimneys. The second photo is from a private collection. Taken in 2005 it shows the newly installed "box kite" faux chimneys from Broad St.

How Much Parking Downtown Is Too Much?

How's this for preserving the Feel and Fabric of Our Streets in this pedestrian scaled city? This is the view of a Meeting Street sidewalk near the SCE&G offices and the entry to their parking lot taken in 2006.

Most cities rely on regular and frequent public transportation to move people through their central business districts, even on weekends and holidays. Charleston has resorted to "hotbeding" its parking lots as its business lots are hawked at night and on weekends. At the same time the public owned parking garages in the area are nearly empty.

Too bad the business license fees generated from these lots aren't being used to fund improvements to our transportation system. We could possibly restore the Meeting Street trolly lines that for generations ran from its terminus at the Battery northward to well beyond the city limits. The trolley system was abandoned in the 1930's when SCE&G as the operator of the electric trolly system since the 1880's was persuaded by General Motors to switch to buses.

Never mind. We don't collect business license fees from many of these fly by night parking lot operations. Rather than add anything more to this entry, I'll let a recent photograph say it instead.

77 Wentworth, 3 Views: 1915, 2006 & 2007

Originally built in 1911 as the central telephone exchange for the Charleston offices of Southern Bell Telephone Company . It was built to be fire resistant and sound enough to support heavy electronic equipment shortly before WWI. Security for buildings designed for critical uses such as public telecommunications was a concern even then. The first photograph by W. D. Clarke, or someone from his studio, was taken in November 1915.

The telephone company relocated to a larger building on St. Philip Street in the 1930's. The original granite and brick street level facade was later punched out and "remuddled" to make way for a glass storefront in the 1940's when it was occupied by The Sportsman Shop and subsequently by Huguley's Office Supply.

In 2006 the city's Board of Architectural Review and its support staff reviewed an application to change the exterior of the sturdy commercial building. This was tangent to a lease which would allow the first floor to be occupied by Yo Burrito, a restaurant geared toward the college student market. The missing granite and brick was replaced with stucco over concrete block as part of the approved remodeling as seen in the second photo taken in early 2006 while the first floor renovations were still under construction.

The third photograph was taken after the restaurant reopened in the slightly less "remuddled" space in 2007. The building's owner recently removed an awkwardly attached side entrance and enclosed staircase that were added later. The owner is also in the process of continuing renovations to the upper two floors which include a roof top entertainment area. No word on what the replacement windows will look like or if they will be functional.

The first floor windows openings roughly follow the original but the new window systems are fixed and not functional. (So much for authenticity and environmental adaptation when the weather is mild.) Is this a "restoration" or is it something else? The building is being made financially viable again, but the quality of the "restored" parts probably won't last as long as the rest of the building. The cost to maintain the less permanent newer parts will also be higher since they will likely have a shorter life expectancy than the rest of the building.

The original 1915 photo shows some interesting details of other buildings in the area, too. A closer look will show the iron gates of the adjacent driveway, the masonry driveway gate pillar of another house and even a reflection of part of the house on the north side of Wentworth that can be seen in the upper story windows of 77 Wentworth. A closer look reveals that the sidewalk and curb are at least a couple of inches lower today than the were in 1915 causing the original entry step to be higer. These offer clues to historic fabric that have long since been removed with other buildings nearby that were largely demolished for parking facilities constructed after WWII.

The originals of all three photographs are currently in a private collection.