"Us" Before We Knew It

If you follow our blog fairly regularly, I think it's safe to assume that you have at least a slight interest in old homes. Or maybe crafty projects. Or maybe you're just nosy and like to see what we're up to--all of which are perfectly acceptable reasons to follow us :) The post I'm sharing today touches on the first reason you may be a follower--an interest in the old.

 

 

The venue we had our wedding reception at is just that--old, just like our home. And I thought it was high time we shared it here because it is a wonderful example of how the adaptive use of older homes and buildings can be transformed to historically preserve old spaces while reclaiming them to accommodate modern needs and function.

 

Our wedding was in Columbia, SC and our reception was at a historic building called 701 Whaley. 701 (as it's called for short) was built in 1903 and served as a community center in the neighborhood for many years. Until it was condemned. You heard right. In the mid 2000s some business partners bought the property and began to restore it.

 

 

Today the building serves as a rental property for weddings, has loft spaces, an art studio and exhibits, and houses several small businesses.

 

 

To me, the most wonderful part about 701 is that the new owners tried to leave as many original details as they could intact.

 

 

One of the owners told me that several times he actually had to have serious chats with the subcontractors because they kept trying to smooth over the walls and patch holes.

 

 

How much character would this wall have lost if they had gone through with patchwork?

 

And here is the original staircase that descends into the space--this is how we made our entrance into the reception :) 

 

Exposed ceilings, swoon--even the duct work becomes a piece of industrial-ish art in this space.

 

 

And have you ever seen a more beautiful elevator floor?! That basket weave tile work--love.

 

Even the bathrooms are amazing! Love the combination of the marble tiled walls with basket weave floor tiling.

 

 

This venue was so "us", before we really even knew what "us" (in terms of design) was.

 

So tell me, because now I'm kind of wondering--why do you read our blog?!

 

This post is part of the series:

 

 

To read other posts in this series click on the January 2013 links under 'Blog Archive' in the right hand column.