Residential
Palmetto Compress Warehouse
Palmetto Compress Warehouse
Originally constructed in 1918 and 1923 and spanning half a city block, the iconic Palmetto Compress Warehouse is one of only three buildings of this type and size remaining in the country. Its historic significance is enshrined in the National Register of Historic Places. The City of Columbia saved this building from demolition until the right development team came along. Together with Philadelphia Management and Triangle Construction, Garvin Design Group adapted this Columbia landmark for new use as a retail and apartment building.
Rehabilitation focused on preserving the original warehouse form while adapting it for new use as apartments and retail space. The existing east porch was in varying levels of disrepair and was rebuilt using the same heavy timber framing, decking, and design as the original. The east porch now provides private balconies for the apartment units on that side of the building. The exterior walls and the interior structure of the warehouse were preserved. Above the existing timber decking, platforms were custom-framed to create level floors. In each bay, at the apex of the sloped floors, a large opening was cut from the first floor through the roof to allow daylight to fill the central core of the building. This open light well introduces natural daylighting, views, and fresh air to the common spaces and units via Juliet balconies, upper-floor terraces, and ground-floor patios. The structure remains to show the original floor locations and give scale to the 350,000-sf warehouse.
The sliding bay doors on the west and east facades are held in the open position and recall the building’s original function. Three over four lite custom windows in each opening show the historic guardrail height and original crossbuck design. The sills of the smaller window openings have been lowered to allow views out and maximize daylight into apartment units. The original steel windows were refurbished and wood windows were replaced with clad windows of identical brick mould and detailing. New rectangular doors along the secondary east elevation provide access to the units from the porch and increase daylighting into units. The existing bay doors had lower head heights and were infilled will three over four lite clad windows with a crossbuck design in keeping with the building’s character.
Although the building is no longer storing cotton, the Palmetto Compress Warehouse survives as an example of warehouse design and early 20th-century construction. The building’s transformation helps anchor Columbia’s transforming Innovista district between downtown and the riverfront.
Photography by Brian Dressler.
Awards
2017 Honor Award – Adaptive Reuse
AIA – South Carolina Chapter
2017 Preservation Award – Adaptive Use
Historic Columbia
2017 Honor Award – Historic Preservation
Preservation South Carolina/South Carolina Department of Archives & History/Office of the Governor