South Carolina Historic State House Building
Posted: Saturday, April 10, 2010
by Lucica Finley
http://www.formicon.com/
The South Carolina State House is 143 years old. It was designed by John Rudolph Niernsee and took 56 years to complete. Building costs exceeded $3,450,000. Originally designed by John R. Niernsee, construction began in 1851, with the main structure of the building being completed in 1875. The Classical Revival structure is a National Historic Landmark.The Bronze Stars on the State House Building
On the west wall of the State House there are six bronze and two plaques carved into the granite. The stars mark the places where the State House was hit by Sherman's artillery shells. The inscriptions carved into the granite wall read:
February 16, 1865, Sherman's artillery from the hills on the south side of the Congaree, got the range of the city by firing on this building then under construction, registering six hits which are separately marked by stars.
Construction on this State House was begun in 1855 and continued uninterruptedly to February 17, 1865 when Sherman burned Columbia. Work was resumed in 1867 and carried on irregularly to 1900.
The History of the State House
Charles C. Wilson of Columbia, who was the last architect of the State House, proclaimed South Carolina's State House "one of the most notable buildings of the world." Its Corinthian capitols, which had been designed by Major John R. Niernsee, were, said Wilson, "wonderful, nothing finer in France or Italy." The building was Niernsee's "life work." But his death prevented him from completing it, and subsequent architects departed from vital particulars of his plans.
The move toward construction began on December 15, 1851, when the State laid the corner-stone for a "Fire Proof Building" to house its records safely. In 1852, the General Assembly appropriated $50,000 to complete that building and to begin the next section for use as the "New State Capitol." P.H. Hammerskold was the project architect, but in May 1854, the State dismissed him for concealment's and misrepresentations and general dereliction of duty."
State House On August 3, 1854, the State appointed Niernsee as architect, Niernsee examined Hammerskold's work and found it and the materials Hammerskold had used both defective and wholly unsuitable. The work was dismantled; the loss totaled $72,267.
On November 27, 1854, Governor John L. Manning recommended erecting a new State Capitol with north and south exposures at the intersection of Senate and Main (then Richardson) Streets. He thought that "If change of location be made, in the end perhaps it may not be a subject much to be regretted that delay and disaster attended the first efforts to construct a new Capitol for the commonwealth." The General Assembly acted on Governor Manning's recommendation, changed the site, and ordered a design with wings extending east and west.
Niernsee planned to complete the building in five years. By 1857, it rose to the top of the basement window-heads. On October 1, 1860, Niernsee reported that the structure had risen nearly sixty-six feet above the foot of the foundation and that the "absolute value of the work put into the building," was $1,240,063. The Corinthian granite capitols, some 64," he said, were "being executed in a style and finish heretofore unequalled in that line."
Star Work on the new State House was suspended when Sherman's army destroyed Columbia on February 17, 1865. Shells from Sherman's cannons, which were of light calibre, damaged the building only slightly, and brass markers were subsequently placed on the west and southwest walls of the building to show where the shots had landed. Ten were fired in all. Six "struck the western front," with little damage "except one which shattered the moulded windowsill and balusters of the 2d window (from the northern end) of the Hall of the House of Representatives." Four struck the interior of the building.
More devastating was the fire that destroyed the old State House. Niernsee reported it cracked five "bells of St. Michael's Church, Charleston," which had been "sent up here some time ago" and deposited under one of the sheds." It consumed the valuable State House library, offices, and workshops, a vast quantity of finished marble and rough material, estimated by Niernsee to be worth $700,000, and several thousand drawings, the result of his practice of twenty-five years. "These," said Niernsee, along with "one of the latest and best busts of Calhoun" and all the valuable detail State House drawings, contracts, and so forth, which had accumulated during Niernsee's ten years on the job, "were utterly swept away during that terrible night-an irreparable loss."
All that remained of Niernsee's drawings were several prints of a perspective view and one full-sized detail of a Corinthian capitol. This perspective and evidence in the building itself, however, indicate Niernsee's concept of the completed structure. His plan did not contemplate a dome that looked anything like the dome on today's building. His was a lofty and finely proportioned tower, which rose one hundred eighty feet from the ground through the center of the building supported by piers and arches; it was "a rectangular lantern," somewhat pyramidal in outline, and thirty feet square at the base; its projected cost was $200,000.
Niernsee returned to Columbia to resume his work as architect of the State House in 1885, but he died on June 7. He was succeeded by a former associate, J. Crawford Neilson, of Baltimore. On October 1, 1888, his son, Frank Niernsee, took over and worked largely on the interior until construction was again suspended, this time about 1891.
In 1900, Frank P. Milburn became architect. He hired the contracting firm of McIlvain and Unkefer, replaced the roof, and built the present dome and north and south porticos for about $170,000. Senator J. Q. Marshal of the State House Commission protested Milburn's appointment, however, and launched an investigation of the work. The investigation ended when the State brought suit against Milburn and his contractor, but the case ended in a mistrial and was not retried.
A joint legislative committee, after calling in Captain S.S.Hunt, the superintendent of construction of the United States Capitol, characterized the dome as infamous. "No uglier creation could be devised," it lamented, "and it is nothing short of a miserable fraud."
On April 8, 1904, the State elected Charles C. Wilson of Columbia as architect. Wilson worked on the terrace and steps of the north front and made sundry improvements to the interior. His work continued for several years and cost about $100,000.
Columns Wilson, who admired Niernsee's design, described the style as "Roman Corinthian, with considerable freedom and distinguished originality in much of the detail. The workmanship of Maj. Niernsee's time," he said, "is exceptionally fine, indicating not only his great genius but the enthusiastic cooperation of mechanics of the highest skill and integrity. ...All credit for this noble and dignified building is due to the original designer and architect, Maj. John Niernsee. It is due him and to future generations of South Carolinians that it be protected from further departure from his design, and in good time, in the state's future prosperity, it is not too much to hope that it may yet be restored to his ideal."
Although all legislative records for the building are not available, those that are show the General Assembly appropriated at least $3,540,000 for its construction over the years. The granite for the structure, according to Alexander S. Salley, who wrote a history of the State House in the early-twentieth century, came mostly from the Granby quarry, which was located about two miles south of the State House.
Previous South Carolina State Houses
This was the first State House located in Charleston. It was built at the northwest corner of Broad and Meeting streets. The Governor at this time was James Glen. Used for approximately 33 years, this State House was destroyed by fire on February 5, 1788. By this time another State House was already under construction in Columbia so the Charleston State House was reconstructed and used as a district courthouse.
In 1786 the city of Columbia was voted by the General Assembly as the new capital city of South Carolina and a new State House was built there. The South Carolina General Assembly convened for the first time in Columbia in January 1789 at the new State House. Seventy six years later, it was destroyed by fire when Columbia was burned by Sherman's troops on the night of February 17, 1865.
Special Architectural Features
THE STATE HOUSE COLUMNS
The massive columns adorning the front portico are each cut from one solid piece of stone and are believed to be the largest monolithic columns used in a building in the United States. Because the columns were lying on the ground at the time of the burning of Columbia, they survived the general destruction the rest of the city experienced.
BAS-RELIEF CARVINGS
These are closeups of the bas-relief carvings of Robert Y. Hayne and George M. Duffie on the entrance way to the State House.
THE AXES
These beautiful hand-carved marble axes stand guard on either side of the front door of the State House.
Other Specialties: The State House Dome, Ceiling of the second floor lobby, The new copper dome, The dome within the dome, The dome at night.
More details:
South Carolina State House
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