2 weeks Ago
It's no surprise that no one in the local, state or preservation community spoke up when North Charleston's early City Hall came down, but that doesn't mean it wasn't regrettable or that there aren't lessons to learn. The silence simply acknowledges that the 5-story brick box off LaCross Road and Mall Drive was no architectural or historical gem: "Budget Institutional" might best describe its style. The city didn't even value it much because it decided years ago to move out completely and build a new home across the street, a much more spacious and handsome home, on the inside if not the outside.
The former City Hall had not reached the half-century mark, when the public's perception of a building — regardless of its quality or style — begins to shift from "outdated, ugly relic" to "cool, historical survivor." This wasn't even North Charleston's first City Hall. That was a modest building that still stands off East Montague Avenue; neither that nor the LaCross Drive building is even mentioned on the city's official online history .
The history does mention the city's coliseum, performing arts center and Sam's Club. Since it's often been rivals with its neighbor to the south, perhaps North Charleston is just inclined to play down its more limited architectural history. While that might have been understandable years ago, the older the city becomes, the more of a mistake such thinking will be.
The new City Hall was proposed around 1977, only five years after North Charleston incorporated. The $2.7 million project was made possible by a $1.
5 million federal grant, and Councilwoman Patsy Hughes complained that an initial sketch of it "looks like a mausoleum," but the architect vowed to refine it. Mayor John E. Bourne Jr.
praised the design decision to locate most of the parking in the rear, away from the main entrance. It also enabled him to take a jab at Charleston and its new auditorium, which featured a big parking lot along Calhoun Street. "We don't want it to look like the Municipal Auditorium," he said.
The nicest part of North Charleston’s plan might have been its grassy lawn, lakes and trees, and its proximity to a shopping hub that gradually faded. The City Hall building opened in July 1979 and served as North Charleston's main city offices and meeting space for more than three decades. It later was leased out and ultimately sold to Roper Hospital in 2022.
Goose Creek, Mount Pleasant, Sullivan's Island and James Island are among the local governments that have come up with thoughtful designs for their relatively new city halls in the past few decades — buildings more likely to stand the test of time. And Summerville preserved its original Town Hall while making it far more functional with a large expansion next door. Charleston City Hall Meanwhile, Charleston's City Hall, billed as the nation's second-longest continually operating city hall, behind only New York's, is one of the city's great landmarks.
First built as a bank, it has served the city for more than two centuries. It once held most city offices — the bank's vault and teller windows came in handy when people came in to pay their taxes — but now serves mostly as a meeting space and offices for the mayor and clerk. Many feel it's extremely important it continue to do so, to keep the city real.
If North Charleston wanted a landmark of its own, it should buy back the old Power House on the former naval base and renovate it for meeting and performance space. Since so few people felt any passion about the former North Charleston City Hall, its demolition might have been just a matter of time, but it still stirs some feelings. Former Charleston Mayor Joe Riley would say we save our buildings in part to preserve our memories, and that might be the most visceral justification for historic preservation, though there are other good reasons as well.
Current North Charleston Mayor Reggie Burgess is among those with memories. As the demolition began, he told me he drove up to the building and parked in the exact same space that he had back in 1989, on the very first day he started working for the city's police department. "I had to sit in the car for a while because that's where I began in public service.
" Before leaving, he gathered up a souvenir, one of its bricks. When cities build homes for their governments, the civic centers where the public comes to watch them do public business, they should insist on quality. They should appreciate how their home subtly tells their story — where their city has been, where it is today and where it wants to go.
The richer that story is, the greater our sense of place. The story of the former North Charleston City Hall is one of a rapidly growing late 20th century city much more mindful of its future than its past. And now part of that past is gone.
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