 Hello, my name is Lydia Brandt and I am working with Access Preservation on the Columbia Downtown Historic Resource Survey. The purpose of this short presentation is to explain the background for this project to give you an overview of the consultant access preservation that has been hired to complete this project and to give you an overview of what will happen, the methodology, the outcomes and the deliverables. We'll also provide at the end of the video contact information for questions or for you to contribute to our work. This video is in place of an in-person meeting but again we'll provide contact information at the end of the video and encourage you to submit questions or comments. We'll begin with a quick discussion of the project's background. In May 2019, the City Planning Division of the City of Columbia applied for a Federal Historic Preservation Grant to fund an update to the City's Historical and Architectural Survey. Why? Why is this a priority of the City? Well, it's part of the City's larger effort to keep an up-to-date Citywide Survey of Historic Resources. When we say historic resources, we're usually talking about buildings. We use that term to talk about any physical aspect of the landscape so that also includes infrastructure like bridges or maybe even pieces of public art. The last time that the City had an updated survey was in 1993. A lot has happened since 1993. For one thing, buildings have just gotten older. What we might consider now to be historic wouldn't necessarily have been considered in 1993 just based on age but our priorities have often changed. We've also been interested or invested in different kinds of history since 1993. This is also part of the larger effort to update the City's comprehensive plan. A more updated survey will create more data and a more thorough understanding of what the historic resources in the City are to help the City to make better decisions that might affect historically significant resources. In September 2019, the City was awarded this grant funded by the National Park Service and administered by the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, also our State Historic Preservation Office, with matching funds from the City of Columbia. In December 2019, the City issued a public request for proposals or an RFP to select a consultant to work on the project. This was a public process and there were multiple applicants. So between January and March 2020, the City reviewed submitted proposals and ultimately selected access preservation to begin the project. Now let's get an overview of the project. The City of Columbia has hired access preservation to undertake this work. Our team blends skills and specialties that make us uniquely qualified. We have more than two decades of experience documenting and researching historic resources here in Columbia. We have already researched, surveyed, documented, and even published on many of the buildings within the boundaries of the survey area. This will allow us to provide a more thorough history of the City's resources as well as to anticipate the questions and opportunities that will inevitably arise over the course of this project. The principal consultant for access preservation is Stacey Richie. Ms. Richie has an MA in public history from the University of South Carolina and from 2005 to 2010 she worked as a historian for New South Associates. From 2010 to 2017, Stacey worked in the City of Columbia's planning department. While working for the City, she specialized in architecture of the mid 20th century, one of the focuses for this survey. She has conducted surveys in Lexington, Ory County, and Columbia and she has completed national register nominations in South Carolina, Minnesota, New York, and Texas. She is currently the principal of access preservation, specializing in historic preservation. The other primary personnel on this project is subcontractor Lydia Matisse Brandt, a professor of art history at the University of South Carolina. That's me. I have a PhD in architectural history from the University of Virginia and I have been a professor of art history at the University of South Carolina since 2011. I specialize in the history of 20th century American architecture and over my almost decade teaching at the University of South Carolina I have developed particular expertise in the city's mid-century architecture. I have documented dozens of buildings in Columbia, including the campuses of the state hospital at Bull Street and the University of South Carolina, and completed national register nominations in South Carolina, Illinois, and Virginia. The purpose of this survey is not to look at or research every single building, but to reevaluate what survives of Columbia's historic built environment, to understand what's important, and to give some direction for how to move forward to document or preserve that history. So we'll begin by creating a historic context, really an overview, a history of downtown Columbia focusing especially on the post war period, which was all left out from the 1993 survey that we're updating. In that process we'll update the inventory really a pretty thorough list of resources, especially those dating before 1975. We anticipate that we will inventory 750 resources. So those resources could include individual buildings, districts, or groups of buildings, objects like sculptures or public art, structures like bridges, sites like parks and landscapes. Once we've identified these objects, once we have put them into a larger history, we can make recommendations for their eligibility. How historic are they? Those are the kinds of questions that we'll use to make our recommendations. How intact are they? Meaning, do they still have their original windows? Do they still have their original roof lines? Can you tell what they would have looked like when they were first built? And together, what can they tell us about the history of Columbia? The survey area is that what you see here. It's bordered by the river to the west, Elmwood Avenue to the north, Hardin Street to the east, and Blossom Street to the south. So those 750 resources should fit within this geographic area. This area does include some districts or individual buildings that have already been deemed significant enough to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a list monitored and maintained by the National Park Service in conjunction with the State Historic Preservation Office. It also includes buildings that have been landmarked or districts that have been identified locally. We are focusing on buildings that have not been surveyed before, especially those built after 1945, which have only recently come to be considered historic. As time elots, we will be looking back at properties that were last surveyed decades ago and could have changed significantly since. We will begin by writing a historic context or an overview of the history of Columbia's built environment. This is the framework into which all of those 750 resources should fit. Buildings tell the story of a people, who, what was important to them, and how their priorities changed over time. We'll use a range of documents like maps and newspaper articles in order to understand these changes, in order to understand the decisions that were made to change the physical landscape. So we'll use things like maps and newspaper articles like you see here. Both of these documents tell us how the state house grounds, for example, part of the survey area, changed over time. Whereas the state house grounds was only two blocks, as you can see in this 1949 map, by the 1960s it had been expanded south by another two blocks. And fitting together these kinds of documents can help us to understand this change over time and to create a story. Photographs are an especially helpful tool to understand change over time. This is where we really have a good time with the detective work. And we start to ask questions like, all right, we've looked at every single building on this block. What did it used to look like? This block of Hampton Street, the 1900 block, has changed a lot. And by comparing the photographs and the documentation that we do on the street today to historic photographs, we can really start to see change. So you can see the corner of that little window in the photograph above of what this block looked like in the 1960s. These kinds of observations prompt larger questions about why changes happen. Who lived in the houses that were demolished in the 1960s? Why were they demolished? Where did those people go? Who made the decision? And finally, and probably most importantly, gets to the picture on the lower right. How do we end up with the buildings or the resources that are there today? Our purpose is not necessarily to answer all of these questions, but to provide the broad outline so that moving into the future, we can have a place to start. Once we've written the historic context, we can really dive into the inventory. So in the coming days and weeks, you might see us out on the street clipboard and cameras in hand just like this. For each resource, we will use a formal process laid out by the State Historic Preservation Office. For each of those 750 resources, we'll take pictures, we'll take notes on its significant architectural features or any changes from its original physical appearance, we'll make an educated guess as to the resources age, and we'll also note its surrounding area, some questions about how it fits in with the things around it. Does it seem to fit or not? What does the group of resources around it tell us about the area and about the city at large? We will document each property from the street or public right away. We will not enter private properties or trespass on privately owned lots. Although if we see you, we might ask you about your property and we encourage you to ask us questions. Overall, this project will provide a new perspective and roadmap for understanding downtown Columbia's history through its buildings. After we research and write the history of Columbia's built environment and we examine it in the field, inventorying those 750 resources, we will make a series of recommendations. These recommendations could be for individual resources or for groups of resources. These recommendations might include listing on the National Register of Historic Places which is overseen by the State Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service. The National Register of Historic Places is an honorary designation that may result in preservation tax credit opportunities for property owners. Such listings require a process in concert with the owners and they are not part of this project. Other recommendations might include recognition as local landmarks or local historic districts. We will also identify areas for future research, things that might not be considered historic now but might in the future. Please note that this survey does not result in a listing on the National Register of Historic Places or on the local city landmark or district list. This survey does not protect any buildings from demolition but does make recommendations for how that could be done in the future. So the project deliverables will provide documentation of every resource we looked at but also context that could be used when looking or evaluating other historic resources in the city in the future. We'll also provide guidelines and suggestions for future action. So these deliverables will result in one a survey report that will have this historic context, the inventory or detailed list of all buildings surveyed and recommendations. We will also submit approximately 750 individual survey cards that include individual information and photographs for each property or resource recorded. We will also have a public meeting at the end of the project to discuss our results. The project timeline is already underway. Over the next few months, Access Preservation will complete the inventory field work and research and writing of the historic context. By July 2020, we'll submit a draft of the historic context to the State Historic Preservation Office in the City of Columbia. In August 2020, we'll have a full draft of the inventory and the recommendations to both of those parties. Soon after, we'll have a public meeting to discuss the results so keep on the city's website and Facebook page to see when that meeting will be held. And on September 18, 2020, our final report and all deliverables will be given to the City of Columbia and the State Historic Preservation Office. So how can you get involved? Well, we'd love for you to learn more about South Carolina's historic resources, but also to see examples of other surveys like this one, including the 1993 survey at scdah.sc.gov. This is the website of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History or the State Historic Preservation Office. You can also let us know about the historic resources in your community. Please provide us with historic photographs or stories, things that you know about buildings or other resources in your area. You can do that by contacting Rachel Walling, Senior Preservation Planner for the City of Columbia at rachel.walling at columbiasc.gov. Or if you have questions about our project, please contact Rachel Walling at the information above. Thank you for listening to this presentation. We look forward to seeing you out in the field and sharing our findings with you. Have a great day.