Middleburg Park Historic District
National Register Listing
Street Address:
Middleburg Drive, St. Julian Place, Summit Place, and portions of Devonshire Drive and Forest Drive, Columbia (Richland County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817740188
Description and Narrative:
The Middleburg Park Historic District is Columbia’s first office park, constructed in two phases between 1968 and 1974. The contributing resources include four brick entrance signs, seventeen office buildings, one high-rise apartment tower, and twenty-three parking lots constructed during the two phases of the office park development, and two early 20th-century residences that the developers retained and incorporated into the complex. Most of the contributing buildings are Modern in design, with some examples of the International Style and New Formalism. A small number of buildings have Neo-Traditional designs. Many of the buildings share common design elements, such as neutral-colored brick veneer siding, flat rooflines, and either vertical plate glass ribbon windows or tall, narrow plate glass windows. Despite some later infill, the district remains identifiable as a midcentury office park. Middleburg Park represents the rise of the office park as a new form of commercial development in the mid-twentieth century. The establishment of Middleburg Park in a developing area along Forest Drive coincided with the movement of businesses and customers away from Columbia’s downtown central business district and toward the suburbs. Although office parks are now so commonplace that they have become mundane, Middleburg Park was novel at the time of its construction, even winning an award for the beauty of its landscaping in 1970. Middleburg Park is an artifact of Columbia’s mid-century suburbanization and represents the office park property type through its curvilinear interior streets, planned landscape, design-restricted buildings, and suburban location. Listed in the National Register May 16, 2025.
Period of Significance:
1968 – 1974
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Community Planning and Development
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
May 16 2025
