fifty manifestos

Fifty Manifestos of Modernity

September 11 Memorial Tour

The national tour begins on Sept. 10 in Columbia, S.C., home to the company fabricating thousands of tons of steel for the memorial. Two 37-foot-long, 4-ton beams that will be installed at the memorial will travel with foundation leaders, Sept. 11 survivors, and exhibits including a firefighter's helmet, and the watch and building IDs of a man who escaped from the north tower.

Major Demolition in Heathwood

I was born + raised in the Heathwood community of Columbia. My father told me stories of the grand Heathwood Hall which was demolished just days before the City could name it an historic landmark. Over the past few years, as increasing numbers wish to relocate to Shandon + Heathwood, many grand estates have sold off their side lots. But recently, speculators have begun to buy property, and sell off lots under half an acre. But the sheer madness of this latest move has me worried for the fabric of Columbia's first suburb.

Republished from The State, 01 August 2007

The surprise destruction of a 78-year-old farmhouse — sitting on more than two acres in one of Columbia’s most affluent and historic areas — has renewed debate over the value of preserving old neighborhoods.

The city’s preservation office is at least three years behind on requests for protected designations from a handful of historic neighborhoods, which include hearings on demolition projects like the one razing the house at 3916 Kilbourne Road in Heathwood last week.

At the center of the conflict — community concerns vs. individual property rights — is a two-person city preservation program with a backlog that frustrates people on both ends of the debate.

“The demolition of this house is a wake-up call,” Mayor Bob Coble said.

Today, Coble will ask City Council to review all the city’s development laws governing neighborhoods and historic designations. His mission: to protect buildings that have asked for historic designation while they wait for approval.

The review comes at a time when the price of in-town real estate is rising and developers are scouting for available lots, factors that make some residents say the nostalgic character of their neighborhoods is at risk.

“‘There’s just nothing we can do’ is what we’re constantly told by the city,” said Mary Baskin Waters, co-president of the neighborhood association for Kilbourne, which consists of stately homes on large lots.

“There just seems to be so little recourse to saving these houses ... other than getting the historic designation, which takes a long time.”

Waters said she’s been corresponding with the city’s preservation office about Heathwood’s historic designation since 2003.

She wants to bring together residents and city staff on “a plan for compromise,” saving old buildings in the city’s core.

But Councilman Kirkman Finlay’s view of the preservation program is that once an area is protected, unworkable rules hold up progress on economic-development projects.

Finlay said he’s in favor of historic designations — as long as the process is “streamlined and efficient” and the focus is on protecting history, not allowing people who don’t own a piece of property to tell the owner what to do with it.

“I’m always leery of putting on additional restrictions,” said Finlay, who represents the Heathwood area on city council.

The Kilbourne Road home, on roughly 2.37 acres, sold for $2.2 million, which apparently is a record for Heathwood this decade, according to Dan Pater with Russell & Jeffcoat Realtors.

The property has frontage on Devereaux Road, too, so the new owner could replace the one home he tore down with nine — all without getting the city’s permission.

Coble and some neighborhood groups are suggesting reforms to guide the style and placement of new houses within older neighborhoods, as well as the demolition of old homes or commercial buildings.

But even the former owner of the home at the heart of the debate would object to telling people what to do with their property.

“Why he tore it down, I don’t know,” David Ellison Jr. said of the new owner, developer Ben Arnold.

“But am I going to second-guess him and his plans or goals? No, I am not.”

HOW THE PROCESS WORKS

Columbia has 10 neighborhoods where the architecture is protected. Five more, including Heathwood, linger on an informal waiting list at the city.

Establishing a historic district takes at least nine months, given the research that goes into the designation, said preservation planner Amy Moore.

Staff members walk through a proposed neighborhood to look at each building, listing historic structures and noting newer ones, Moore said. Meetings with property owners help work out the boundaries as well as what kinds of restrictions will be adopted.

Some neighborhoods on the waiting list for consideration as historic districts are big ones, such as Shandon, a 1920s neighborhood that Moore said could take four months just to walk and survey.

Once the city council designates a district, the preservation office monitors new construction, renovation projects and demolition requests.

The staff handles from half to three-quarters of development requests, cutting the time for a decision to a matter of days. Complex requests go before the city’s Design Development Review Commission for an answer. Getting a decision there could take up to a month, Moore said.

So what kinds of construction projects, in a historic district, go to the city ?

At one end of the scale, in the Elmwood Park neighborhood, the design review commission can require an owner to install historically accurate windows.

At the other end, in the Waverly neighborhood, for example, the staff could sign off on simple renovations to a porch.

In almost every case, a property owner must get permission to tear down an historic building.

It’s a process similar to what’s in place in Greenville, said that city’s zoning administrator, Bryan Wood.

Moore’s office monitors more than 3,600 parcels. In addition to the neighborhoods, it oversees about 120 individual landmarks, a mix of commercial buildings, homes and institutions.

In Columbia, 38 potential landmarks are on a waiting list compiled by Historic Columbia Foundation. Most have been there since 2004.

One of them, Central Baptist Church on Huger Street, was torn down last week, leaving 37 on the waiting list, said Robin Waites, director of Historic Columbia, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Belinda Gergel, a preservation activist who is running for City council, said the city needs to bolster its preservation program.

“We can’t allow the interests of a small group of private developers to beat the clock of historic designation and forever change the integrity of these historic neighborhoods,” she said.

‘A FARMHOUSE IN THE MIDDLE OF TOWN’

Computerized tax records say the 3,250-square foot farmhouse on Kilbourne Road was built in 1929. It had four bedrooms, two bathrooms and just a handful of owners over the years.

In the spring, Ellison placed the house on the market after living there for the better part of 35 years and raising his three sons.

He and his family put a lot of time and money into fixing up the house. But at 68, he said, “an old football knee” made it hard to get up and down the stairs. He and his wife moved to a family home overlooking the Forest Lake golf course.

Arnold bought the property, saying he planned to save the house and create four lots around it — building a house for his family on one of them.

Last month, he went before the planning commission with a request to divide the property, agreeing to keep the old house. Heathwood residents reluctantly supported Arnold’s plan, according to minutes of the meeting.

Arnold said in an interview last week that his plans changed, so he retracted the request.

Arnold said it wasn’t feasible to keep what he viewed as “an old, rundown house” and that he intends to sell the property as a nine-house subdivision.

Because the original zoning on the property allows nine lots, he can proceed without a public hearing or vote of city council. A hearing would be triggered by a request for more or differently configured lots.

“I don’t know why people are making such a big deal over that house. It’s nothing special,” Arnold said. “It’s a farmhouse in the middle of town that’s out of place.”

While some residents understand the value of subdividing the Kilbourne Road site — the largest tract to become available in Heathwood in years — there are concerns with the number of homes in the latest plan.

“Six lots, I can deal with,” said Sam Waters, who shares neighborhood duties with his wife, Mary. “Nine lots, I get uneasy.”

OTHERS TAKE NOTICE

Jackie Bartley is president of the Shandon neighborhood, where consideration of a historic designation is at least two years away.

Bartley said residents in her neighborhood are fed up with newer homes squeezed in among classic bungalows. It’s a trend that seems to be accelerating, she said.

“It started in Rosewood and, in the last two or three years, it’s coming to Shandon,” Bartley said.

The latest controversy in her neighborhood involves a developer building a three-story log home on Duncan Street, a house that Bartley said looks out of place in materials and scale.

Bartley said the Kilbourne Road demolition points up the need for reforms in Columbia’s older neighborhoods.

“There needs to be some waiting period, some public notice” when an owner wants to raze an old building, she said.

Robert Lewis, a developer and preservationist who lives in Heathwood, said a waiting period could have saved the old farmhouse around the corner.

Last Wednesday, when he realized the house was going to be demolished, Lewis said he called the real estate agent with an offer to buy the house and one of the lots, where he would move the house.

He was too late.

Reach Hinshaw at (803) 771-8641.

HISTORIC DISTRICTS

Columbia has 10 historic districts:

Elmwood

Earlewood

Downtown landmark district

Governors Mansion

West Gervais business district

University Hills

Melrose/Oaklawn

Waverly

Old Shandon

Oakwood Court

Another five neighborhoods are on a waiting list for the historic designation. Research for each takes a minimum of nine months, though waits for consideration can take years:

Wales Garden

Cottontown

Hollywood/Rose Hill

Shandon

Heathwood

SOURCE: Columbia preservation office