2024 Preservation Awards | The Babcock Building
Thursday, May 16th 2024
WINNER | Preservation, Rehabilitation, or Restoration (commercial, institutional, rental, or municipal)
The Babcock Building | 2110 Pickens Street
Clachan Properties — Property Owner
Walter Parks Architects — Architect
Rehab Builders, Inc. — Contractor
Fearnbach History Services, Inc. — Preservation Consultant
For generations, Columbia residents and visitors to the capital city identified the South Carolina Department of Mental Health’s Bull Street campus by its largest facility—the Italian Renaissance Revival style Babcock Building. Built in multiple phases between 1858 and 1885, the sprawling 254,000 square-foot complex stood vacant by 1994, a little more than a decade after being listed in the National Register of Historic Places and receiving City of Columbia Level 1 Landmark classification.
A quarter century later, Richmond, Virginia-based Clachan Properties assembled the team of Walter Parks Architects, also of Richmond, and Rehab Builders, Inc. of Winston-Salem, and initiated the property’s rehabilitation into 208 studio, one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartment units. Financing the ambitious project involved coupling $39 million in HUD loans with historic tax credits to cover the $60-million-dollar budget and securing a 20-year tax abatement by qualifying for the Bailey Bill—all made possible by adhering to the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.
During the course of three years, the unprecedented endeavor overcame setbacks, including a dramatic, three-alarm fire in September 2020 that destroyed the building’s iconic cupola. Undaunted, Clachan Properties pressed on, successfully overseeing the building’s phased, comprehensive transformation. Restoration of character-defining facets including clear and stained-glass windows, interior doors, plaster walls, floors, and trim followed. The August 2023 installation of an architecturally sympathetic new dome built of modern materials served as the figurative exclamation point to a statement in historic preservation unparallelled in size, scope, detail, and dedication. Today, thanks to Clachan Properties and its design, contracting, and financial team members, The Babcock has realized its potential of playing a central role in the larger success of Hughes Development’s BullStreet District.
Header image courtesy Multifamily Select Inc.
Before & After
Images courtesy Multifamily Select Inc.
Front Exterior
Before image courtesy Clachan Properties. After image courtesy Multifamily Select Inc.
Explore the
Economic Impact Study
This study's findings reinforce our long-held position on the importance of historic preservation for the city's economy and support our work advocating for policies that encourage preservation and the reuse of historic buildings. Columbia’s architectural heritage is not simply an exercise in nostalgia; it is an informed, strategic investment in the future.
