University of South Carolina

UNIVERSITYOF SOUTH CAROLINA Bully for You: Expansion into East Campus ARTH 542 American Architecture Spring 2018 Dr. Lydia Brandt With more Americans attending college than ever before; urban renewal; racial integration; the expansion of coeducation; and the architecture community’s advocacy for holistic relationship between planning, architecture, and landscape architecture, the American college campus developed rapidly and dramatically in the mid- twentieth century. Editors Margaret Pokalsky Using the University of South Carolina’s Mary Ann Thompson Columbia Campus as a case study, this project explores the history of American architecture in Designer the mid-twentieth century. Markell Allen 2 Bully for You UNIVERSITYOF SOUTH CAROLINA Bully for You: Expansion into East Campus 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 5 HISTORICAL REVIEWS 2 College Street Houses .................................................................................................................. 7 3 Capstone Hall ............................................................................................................................. 14 4 Welsh Humanities Complex ..................................................................................................... 24 5 Welsh Humanities Classroom .................................................................................................. 30 6 Close-Hipp Colossus ................................................................................................................. 35 7 Pickens Street Bridge and Promenade ................................................................................... 43 8 Gambrell Hall ............................................................................................................................. 51 SITE SURVEYS 9 College Street Houses ................................................................................................................ 61 10 Capstone Hall ............................................................................................................................. 70 11 Welsh Humanities ..................................................................................................................... 79 12 Close-Hipp Colossus ................................................................................................................. 85 13 Pickens Street Bridge ................................................................................................................ 91 14 Gambrell Hall ............................................................................................................................. 98 15 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................110 Expansion into East Campus 3 4 Bully for You 1 Charlotte Adams Introduction Between 1965 and 1985, the University of coming of age, as well as changing perceptions of South Carolina embarked upon a major campus what a USC student looked like. Between 1970 and expansion eastward. A rapid increase in student 1979, the student population increased from nearly enrollment prompted University President Wil- 15,000 in 1970 to 26,000 in 1979; that is almost liam H. Patterson and Vice President of Opera- a seventy-three percent increase in one decade. tions Harold “Hal” Brunton to conceive a twen- Social and political changes opened USC’s gates to ty-year expansion plan with the goal of creating an new social classes, genders, and races; the Carolina “Educational Paradise”: East Campus. The phys- of the 1970s welcomed more than just elite white ical growth of campus over the next twenty years males. The GI Bill made college an option for responded to the student population growth, but veterans who might have never been able afford it it came at the expense of the surrounding Univer- before; USC’s female student population increased sity Hill neighborhood. Throughout the realiza- to almost fifty percent of the total student popu- tion of the twenty year plan, USC absorbed six lation by 1980; and in 1963, USC admitted its first city blocks from University Hill, demolishing the African-American students, racially integrating neighborhood to clear the way for Patterson’s and campus. Brunton’s new educational paradise. The story of East Campus, in keeping with other mid-cen- East Campus expansion into existing neighbor- tury developments at the University of South Car- hoods fits into a larger narrative of nationwide olina, responded to tremendous growth in student mid-century college growth and Urban Renewal. enrollment with the construction of new academic This report investigates the development of the buildings and dormitories in the modernist archi- new: the academic buildings, dormitory, bridge, tecture style. Acquisition of the six blocks bounded and promenade constructed on East Campus, by Pickens to the west, Greene to the south, Gregg and reflects on the changes to the old: the houses to the east, and Pendleton to the north began in demolished to make way for campus growth, the 1965, launching Hal Brunton’s twenty-year plan. residents pushed out, and the collection of houses This expansion would provide much needed land that remain as campus buildings at the end of the for the construction of a Humanities Center, a axis. space for the School of Nursing, and the Capstone Across the United States, college student pop- House. A new Business Administration building, ulations skyrocketed, and the University of South Social Science Center, and a bridge and pedestrian Carolina was no exception. This explosion in en- mall to unify the space completed Brunton’s objec- rollment was a result of the Baby-Boom generation tive. In 1967, Capstone Hall initiated East Campus Expansion into East Campus 5 construction, which continued until 1983, with the completion of the second half of the Business Administration building. The University was moving into the future, and East Campus’ straight lines, rigid axis, and modernist buildings showcased Brunton and Pres- ident Patterson’s commitment to progress in spite of backlash from students and University Hill residents. The Pickens Street Bridge and the Prom- enade, in particular, provoked student outrage, and the acquisition and demolition of half of the neighborhood drew protest from neighbors. A major theme of the story of East Campus expansion is the role of the University as a bully, relentlessly spreading in the face of opposition. This report treats the history and architecture of several East Campus buildings that answered the demand for more space to accommodate the booming student population: the Humanities Complex, Gambrell Hall, and Close-Hipp were academic buildings, while Capstone Hall was a dormitory. These buildings embody the new. The report also treats the old, examining the effects of Urban Renewal via the University, and relating the story of the College Street houses, the few homes in the six block radius that survived the wrecking ball to become campus buildings. The information in this report stems from a semester-long collaborative research project un- dertaken by Dr. Lydia Brandt’s History of Modern American Architecture students. The students wrote histories of each building by conducting intense archival research at the South Caroliniana Library and supplementing this with newspaper articles from the Gamecock, photos from Garnet and Black yearbooks, and secondary source mate- rial. Additionally, the students conducted architectural surveys and wrote detailed architectural descriptions for each building. The research re- sulted in the first, and only, comprehensive review of University of South Carolina’s East Campus to honor its architectural novelty and history. 6 Bully for You Kellen Ledford Kayla Mosley 2 Mary Ann Thompson HISTORICAL REVIEW College St. Houses with University Hill (Figure 1). Other neighbor- hoods that began to populate Columbia due to the same issues include Shandon, Forest Hills, and the Rosewood area. The University Hill residential neighborhood was an important asset to the University. The physical location of University Hill is adjacent to the primary University and also the state Capital of South Carolina. Statistically, this location lends to a predominantly white middle class demographic of community residents who are business and political leaders. Historically, the College Street houses contributed to the academic culture of University Hill. This neighborhood was awarded an architectural conservation district in 1. Outline/Map of University Hills neighborhood. 1964.2 INTRODUCTION University Hill is not only significant to the University of South Carolina due to its location, The advancement in the development of Univer- but also because of its inhabitants. The neighbor- sity of South Carolina declined after the Civil War, hood has over time been home to many faculty compared to similar size universities. Reconstruc- and staff of the college, which breaks down the tion politics restrained growth and contributed wall between the educational portion of the city to underfunding by a rural state legislature in and the residential areas.3 This is one of the key the early 1900’s.1 After the Civil War, the city of points as to why the College Street homes still Columbia began to rebuild and expand its infra- stand today. The papers of Harold Brunton dis- structure. This expansion

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