With Debut of Boyd Foundation Horticultural Center Historic Columbia Realizes What Once Was Only a Pipe Dream

Historic Columbia Realizes What Once Was Only a Pipe Dream

New facility ushers in transformational growth for the 60-year-old organization

“After passing through many fine walks and a neatly arranged flower garden we came to an extensive range of glass . . . to see the exotic treasures of the charming greenhouses.”

— W. R. Bergholz, “Visits to Columbia Gardens,” The Farmer and the Planter, July 1861.

Generations of 19th-century travelers who visited Columbia, South Carolina’s Hampton-Preston estate often marveled at the four-acre tract’s accomplished collection of native and exotic plantings, sculpture, fountains, and arbor-lined pathways. But it was the site’s glasshouse, integrated into the property’s eightfoot-tall brick perimeter wall, that most frequently intrigued admirers. One hundred and sixty years later, on March 9, 2022, another generation of garden devotees made a pilgrimage to the storied historic site to behold its horticultural achievements and amenities. Like Bergholz and his contemporaries, they, too, encountered an extensive range of glass, albeit, freshly minted as the Boyd Foundation Horticultural Center, so named for the Darnall W. and Susan F. Boyd Foundation, which graciously funded the state-of-theart facility’s construction. At 3,700-square feet, the modern structure overshadows its predecessor in size, capacity, and intent, as Historic Columbia will utilize the facility for propagation, administration, programming, and storage. The structure, which is in the same area as its historic antecedent, will operate in conjunction with a one-third-acre nursery situated on the northeastern aspect of the property. Additionally, an historically inspired gatehouse—integrated into the property’s west wall like one that stood on the site until the mid20th century—serves as a secondary entrance to the Hampton-Preston Mansion and Gardens, which are open to the public seven days a week.

A BLOSSOMING INVESTMENT

The $2.5 million dollar Boyd Foundation Horticultural Center eclipses the namesake foundation’s previous

overleaf: Historic Columbia 60th Anniversary Gala and Debut of Boyd Foundation Horticultural Center, March 2022. Courtesy of Sean Rayford. opposite: Aerial view of the Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens, looking southeast, March 2022. Courtesy of Cohn Corporation by Todd Lista with Park Avenue Photography.

investment of more than $1.5 million dollars at the Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens that had powered Historic Columbia’s transformation of the site into one of the most dynamic public gardens in the region.

Says George Bailey, president of the Boyd Foundation, “We think these projects fit nicely with our objective of enhancing recreational opportunities for the citizens of Columbia and making Columbia a better place to live.” Previous support from the foundation funded the installation of historically accurate pathways and arbors, the planting of more than two acres of gardens featuring native and exotic plants and trees, and the construction of classrooms and bathrooms in the mansion’s basement as well as the creation of a unique feature – a sunken programmatic space whose footprint matches that of a circa-1850 addition that formerly stood on the north aspect of the extant mansion. “We have been working toward this goal since 2006 when we adopted our Cultural Landscape Master Plan. It would not have happened without the commitment of the Boyd Foundation,” emphasizes Robin Waites, Historic Columbia’s executive director.

Designed by Lambert Architecture + Construction Services and with Cohn Construction as the general contractor, and the Wisconsin Greenhouse Company as the specialty contractor, the Boyd Foundation Horticultural Center marks an unprecedented level of giving and exponentially enhances Historic Columbia’s capacity to curate the 14 acres of grounds and gardens under its care. The facility also serves as a space to interpret the role that an extensive workforce of gardeners and horticulturists—Black, White, enslaved, and free—played in shaping this site for over 200 years. Their stories and the physical evolution of the site are conveyed to visitors through a collection of twenty-five wayside interpretive signs that complement interior signage in the mansion, all of which feature historic illustrations, photographs, and maps of the property.

NEW CONSTRUCTION OF HISTORIC STRUCTURES

Beyond Bergholz’s documentation to the estate’s original greenhouse, both 19th- and 20th-century descriptions of the structure include:

Camille C. Drie’s 1872 birds eye map of Columbia that illustrates the building standing in the northwest corner of the tract.

Author E.T.H. Schaffer’s writing in 1937 that descried the property as having “a large greenhouse, for roses and other flowers, built against the south wall of the house.”

William G. Haynes, Jr.’s 1941 sketch of the gardens that outlined the foundation of the by then-destroyed structure. With a frustrating dearth of photographic evidence of the estate’s original glasshouse to guide them, architects with Lambert Architecture + Construction Services worked with members of Historic Columbia’s Cultural Resources Department to arrive at the most probable design of the historic structure based on the composition and appearance of other similar 19th century buildings. Plans for the new building mimicked known attributes of the Hampton-Preston family’s unique garden amenity. Like the estate’s original glasshouse, its modern successor features a threequarter span glasshouse that runs the entire length of the structure and includes a production greenhouse, a central orientation lobby, and an interpretive greenhouse.

The production greenhouse will serve as the central propagation facility for the grounds department and will only be open to the public for special programs. The orientation lobby will serve as a space for interpretive signage about both the current and historical workings

College for Women Students, southwest corner of Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens, 1890. Historic Columbia collection.

of the garden and greenhouse and will be open to the public during the hours that the garden is open. The interpretive greenhouse will host a variety of plants propagated in the original structure with accompanying informational signage. Set within large pots, these plantings can be moved about the space to accommodate logistics involved in various programs and space uses. The facility will also be a “one-stop shop” for Historic Columbia’s grounds department, also housing offices for the Director of Grounds, the Horticulturalist, and the Head Gardener, in addition to storage for materials, tool, and machinery.

A GATEWAY INTO A PASTORAL RETREAT

For decades, visitors to the urban estate could access its heavily developed gardens via an octagonal gatehouse, a once common rustic timber-framed landscape structure that was contiguous to the property’s western wall. With ample visual documentation at their disposal, project architects arrived at a very respectful interpretation of the feature to be custom rendered in powder-coated aluminum replicated for durability. The site’s new octagonal structure, a contemporary creation fabricated by Chris Stuyck, provides material continuity with a gazebo by the same local artisan that is the centerpiece of a children’s garden occupying the southeast portion of the site.

SITE HISTORY AND INTERPRETATION

Owned by Richland County and managed by Historic Columbia, the Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens is an historic site most often associated with the socially and politically influential antebellum planter-class families from which it draws its name. During their time at the urban estate [1823–1873], the property became renowned for its extensive native and exotic plantings that filled most of the city square, or fouracre tract, on which the main house still stands today. This horticultural excellence was only made possible through the forced labor of Black people enslaved at this site, and from the wealth generated by hundreds of other enslaved people of color who worked on plantations in South Carolina and Louisiana. Wayside signage throughout the property, installed in 2018, outlines these people’s work conditions, tasks, and the outbuildings in which they lived. Collaborating with various cultural partners, Historic Columbia plans to install physical representations of and a memorial to these individuals, both named and unnamed, in the future.

Greenhouse, Hampton-Preston Mansion & Gardens, March 2022. Courtesy of Cohn Corporation by Todd Lista with Park Avenue Photography.