Opinion: In Praise of Local Historic Restoration

Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer

Saving and preserving historic buildings can be crucial for a town’s identity. Their preservation can provide a tangible link to the past.

Preserving them can also be a financially smart decision, as older structures often boast superior craftsmanship and materials, and their rehabilitation can spur economic growth by attracting investors, tourists, and new businesses.

Aesthetically, these buildings feature unique materials and designs that contribute to a city's distinctive character and support traditional craftsmanship.

Environmentally, historic preservation acts as large-scale recycling, efficiently using resources, reducing waste from demolition, conserving energy, and preventing the release of toxins.

Sadly Anderson County and many other places across the nation demolished many old structures in the late 1960s and 1970s in the name of progress. So many great mill buildings, with good bones and potential, were torn down for scrap, and piles of debris still litter spots around the county because of those short-sighted decisions.

But that may be changing.

Two local projects deserve praise for the saving and restoration of such structures.

In Pendleton, the Cheney Mill Lofts prevented the old cotton mill from demolition by creating new housing on the edge of downtown. The apartments, the work of Camden Management Properties, which will begin reserving apartments next week.

The mill, which produced cotton yarn, opened in 1906, and was one of 17 textile mills operating in Anderson County between 1900-1920. The two-story, L-shaped form of the mill has remained mostly unchanged since the early twentieth century, and the building retains a substantial amount of physical integrity, including more than half of its original eight-over-eight, double-hung wood-sash windows with eight-light transoms.

The building also retains its low-pitched gable roof, exposed rafter tails, segmental-arch window openings, a crenellated stair tower, and brick smokestack. The mill site features a water tower, mill pond, press house, warehouse, and three hose houses that contribute to the historic integrity of the site. It was listed in the National Register Jan. 29, 2018.

Pendleton was awarded a $25,000 grant to develop a small-area plan for the area, which includes determining the types/styles of buildings and their uses, as well as how to tie the area into a walking district to downtown in hopes that adding such investments will lead to broader impacts, including the potential of more sidewalks and streetlights, and other renovations.

Pendleton provided approximately $300,000 in internal infrastructure investment around the mill, to work with the developer on the most critical needs for the project. Anderson County’s Transportation Committee is expected to commit funding for the repaving of the road in front of the mill.

The county also worked closely with Pendleton and the developer on the project, including providing fee in lieu of tax incentives, historic property tax credits, abandoned mill tax credits and assistance with getting the site on the historic register.

The collaborative effort has paid off. Camden Management Properties is now considering redevelopment on the old Pendleton Oil Mill site nearby.

Meanwhile in downtown Anderson Coldwell Caine Banker has restored the historic post office to closely reflect its original look.

began the work two years ago on the restoration of the historic federal post office building downtown which served the community from 1909-1940, when it moved to a newer building.

The Beaux Arts-style building, designed by James Knox Taylor and was the first federal post office in downtown Anderson.

The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Anderson Downtown Historic District, and Coldwell sought to keep the look and feel of the building consistent with the original, including finding and installing period-accurate post office boxes on the lobby wall.

In 1941 the structure became home for the McDougald-Bleckley funeral home, which became Sullivan-King Mortuary in 1949. Sullivan-King left downtown and Sosebee Mortuary operated for a while in the historic building, but soon relocated as well.

In 2021, the building was sold for $900,000 and Coldwell Banker Caine has made the site its Anderson real estate headquarters, and hopes the lobby of the building will be used for community purposes in the near future. The downstairs area, which includes a covered patio, has also been renovated and the company is looking to lease it to a new local business.

Despite tax credits and other local support, it was an expensive process.

But returning the iconic building to something close to its original look, Coldwell Caine Banker is to be commended. It’s preservation of as much of the original materials, and upfitting stabilized an aging structure that will now remain a fixture in downtown for generations to come.

So Kudos to Camden Management Properties and Coldwell Caine Banker for their commitment to the community by saving old structures. Let’s hope others follow their lead.