1106 Pickens Street
McMaster School
Designed by Columbia architect William Augustus Edwards of the firm of Edwards and Walter and built in 1911, McMaster School was a white-only grammar school that served students in the surrounding neighborhoods. It was named for Colonel F.W. McMaster, an advocate for better public schools and a mayor of Columbia. The University of South Carolina purchased the structure in 1960 and changed the name to McMaster College. Initially, it housed the music and art departments. In 2000, Historic Columbia awarded the University of South Carolina a historic preservation award for New Construction in a Historic Context for the structure's massive, architecturally sympathetic addition that extended the McMaster School building to the east. The building currently houses the School of Visual Art and Design.
