Chapel of Hope
National Register Listing
Street Address:
2145 Pickens Street, Columbia, SC (Richland County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817740185
Description and Narrative:
The Chapel of Hope is an L-shaped, brick-veneered, ecclesiastical building constructed in 1965 and designed for use by multiple faiths. The building sits on approximately one acre of land on the former South Carolina State Hospital campus, originally known as the South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, and faces east toward Pickens Street. Most of the institutional buildings which existed in the chapel’s vicinity when it was built are no longer extant and have been replaced in the last decade with new construction. The building is comprised of a two-story sanctuary and one-story administrative wing. The building, which is of frame construction with a running brick bond veneer, is a late example of Colonial Revival design. The bricks used to veneer the chapel were repurposed from the original ca.1827 twelve-foot wall encircling the hospital campus, which was lowered in 1962. The Chapel is associated with the professionalization of pastoral care as part of a broader effort towards more humane mental health treatment that reflected the midcentury “open hospital” concept. The Chapel of Hope represents the increased emphasis placed on holistic care for patients in the postwar period, which coincided with increased interfaith cooperation among Judeo-Christian faith traditions, the professionalization of chaplaincy, and the formal integration of pastoral care into medical and mental health treatment in South Carolina and elsewhere. The Chapel of Hope, and especially its northeastern wing known as the Kempson Center, reflected these trends and served as an important base of chaplain operations and pastoral care training and programming. In addition to its association with pastoral care, the Chapel’s construction represented the culmination of years of patient desires and efforts for a purpose-built place of religious worship. As part of the State Hospital campus, the Chapel of Hope served a statewide patient population and hosted pastoral care training that attracted participants from across South Carolina and beyond. Listed in the National Register September 22, 2023.
Period of Significance:
1965 – 1973
Level of Significance:
State
Area of Significance:
Social History
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
September 22 2023
