South Carolina Penitentiary

National Register Listing

Street Address:

1511 Williams St., Columbia, SC (Richland County)

Alternate Name:

Central Correctional Institution (CCI)

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NRHP Nomination

Record Number:

S10817740107

Description and Narrative:

The South Carolina Penitentiary is significant to the social history of the state from the late 1860s to 1944. Established in 1866, the penitentiary has followed many of the national trends in prison reform to improve the treatment of convicts in South Carolina. In addition, the penitentiary was the beginning of a state penal system that would eventually evolve into the current South Carolina Department of Corrections. The penitentiary’s architecture is reflective of prison design ideas that were popular in the United States during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The penitentiary complex contains twenty-six buildings and structures, including seven contributing buildings and one contributing structure. They are the Cell Block One (1860s-1886), the Electric Chair Building (1912), the Richards Building (1927-28), the Chair Factory Building (1932), the Mess Hall Addition (1932), the Shop Building (1934-35), Griffith Hospital (1937-38), and the Boundary Wall (1860s-1886). The buildings are between one and five stories tall and built of granite or brick. In general, they have a massive appearance and few decorative elements. Listed in the National Register January 4, 1996. It has since been demolished. Removed from the National Register December 8, 2005.

Period of Significance:

1860 – 1944

Level of Significance:

State

Area of Significance:

Social History;Law;Industry;Health/Medicine;Architecture

National Register Determination:

removed from National Register

Date of Certification:

January 4 1996

Date of Removal from the Register:

December 8 2005

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