Historic Columbia announces 2023 Preservation Award winners 

Awards honor individuals and projects for design and preservation accomplishments   

Historic Columbia announced the recipients of its 2023 Preservation Awards. Each year, Historic Columbia celebrates Preservation Month by recognizing local projects and leaders that have maintained or added to Columbia and Richland County’s historical, architectural, and cultural heritage. 

“This year’s Preservation Awards showcase the owners, developers, architects, consultants, and contractors who recognize the power and importance of preservation,” said Robin Waites, Historic Columbia’s Executive Director. “We’re honored to celebrate their work in ensuring Columbia’s built history continues to be celebrated as a vital part of our community for today’s residents and future generations.” 

Historic Columbia awarded recipients in the following categories: Preservation Leadership, Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration (Commercial, Institutional, Rental, or Municipal), Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration (Revitalization), and Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration (Residential). 

Preservation Leadership Co-Award Winner: Charles “Chuck” Lesser 

A resident of 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. Learn more

Preservation Leadership Co-Award Winner: Karen Quinn 

Architect and project manager Karen Quinn has become BOUDREAUX’s leader in historic preservation-based commissions throughout Columbia and the Palmetto State. Her love for architecture comes from transforming buildings that are underutilized or abandoned into community beacons. A firm leader in Historic Preservation, Karen’s mission has been to restore community treasures, knowing that the effort will send ripple effects into the surrounding neighborhoods. Learn more

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. Learn more 

Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration (Commercial, Institutional, Rental or Municipal): 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 historic tax credits. Learn more

Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration (Commercial, Institutional, Rental or Municipal): 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. Learn more

Preservation, Rehabilitation or Restoration (Commercial, Institutional, Rental or Municipal): 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. 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. Learn more

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. Learn more

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 gable-front 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. 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. Learn more

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. 

About Historic Columbia 
In November 1961, a small group of individuals intent on saving the Ainsley Hall House from demolition officially incorporated as Historic Columbia. Over the next five decades, the organization, which was founded on the premise of preservation and education, would take on the stewardship of seven historic properties in Richland County. Today, the organization serves as a model for local preservation efforts and interpretation of local history. Visit historiccolumbia.org or find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or Youtube for more details.