page_title: South Carolina State House
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: South Carolina State House / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: South Carolina Statehouse underground facility
context_page_description: The South Carolina State House is the building housing the government of the U.S. state of South Carolina, which includes the South Carolina General Assembly and the offices of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. Located in the capital city of Columbia near the corner of Gervais and Assembly Streets, the building also housed the Supreme Court until 1971.
  The State House is in the Classical Revival style; it is approximately 180 feet tall, 300 feet long, 100 feet wide. It weighs more than 70,000 short tons and has 130,673 square feet of space.
context_section_description: The South Carolina State House was designed first by architect P. H. Hammarskold.  Construction began in 1851, but the original architect was dismissed for fraud and dereliction of duty.  Soon thereafter, the structure was largely dismantled because of defective materials and workmanship. John Niernsee redesigned the structure and work began on it in 1855, slowed during the Civil War, and was suspended in 1865 as General W.T. Sherman's U.S. Army entered Columbia on February 17.  Several public buildings were "put to the torch" when United States troops entered the city.
  The new capitol building, still under construction, was damaged by artillery shells. The old capitol building was set afire by U.S. Army troops under Sherman's command.
  Reconstruction-era poverty slowed progress.  The building's main structure was finally completed in 1875.  From 1888 to 1891, Niernsee's son, Frank McHenry Niernsee, served as architect and much of the interior work was completed.  In 1900 Frank Pierce Milburn began as architect, but was replaced in 1905 by Charles Coker Wilson who finally finished the exterior in 1907.  Additional renovations were made in 1959 and 1998.
  The State House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 for its significance in the post-Civil War Reconstruction Era.
caption: Statehouse underground facility
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