Pacific Community Association Building
National Register Listing
Street Address:
701 Whaley St. / 214 Wayne St., Columbia, SC (Richland County)
Alternate Name:
Pacific Community YMCA; The "Y"
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817740142
Description and Narrative:
The Pacific Community Association Building, located within the former boundaries of the Olympia and Granby Mill complex, is significant for its social and cultural impact on the mill villages it serviced and for its architectural significance and association with its designer, W.B. Smith Whaley. The Pacific Community Association Building is a large irregularly-shaped two-story brick building built as a vernacular two-part storefront with elaborate cornices, decorative brickwork and corbeling that reflects many elements of the Olympia and Granby Mills located nearby. The original portion of the building, built by 1903, was rectangular in shape, and was designed by the prolific mill engineer and architect W.B. Smith Whaley for use as a store in his mill village. The pool building was added in the rear around 1918, and the large gymnasium was constructed in 1923 long after the original portion had been converted into a community center. The building has played an important role in the mill story of Columbia as the site where so many mill children grew up and were socialized into the greater community. From sports to community service organization to recreational activities this building became a major asset to the mill in drawing rural workers to the mill community and today helps provide context to the history of the textile mill society in two of Columbia’s most prominent and most significant mill villages. Listed in the National Register October 24, 2007.
Period of Significance:
1903 – 1941;1903;1918;1923
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Architecture;Entertainment/Recreation;Social History
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
October 24 2007
