The Sylvan Building, at the Corner of Main and Hampton Streets, was built in Second Empire design and is one of the few undamaged examples of this type of architecture in Columbia. The building was designed by Samuel Sloan.  It has brick bearing walls, arches, and wood floors supported by wood joists.  It has three floors and a full basement.  Built as the Central National Bank, it was absorbed by the Loan and Exchange Bank in 1886.  It has been the home of Sylvan's Jewelry Store since 1906, and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

The Canal Dime Savings Bank is Columbia's only surviving example of the Richardson Romanesque style of architecture.  Constructed in 1892, the building was designed by the Smith-Whaley architectural firm and is the work of either Whaley or his partner, Gadsden Shand.  The building was later purchased by the Loan and Exchange Bank, the State Bank and Trust Company, the People's Bank of Columbia, and Eckerd's Drug Store.  It is a three-story brick building with a granite facade and red barrel tile roof. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.  

Tapp's Department Store operated from the corner of Main and Blanding Streets for over 92 years, closing in 1995. The upper floors have been converted to loft-style condominiums, and the ground floor now houses a fitness center. For information about the condos in this building, go to the Capitol Places website.

The store opened in 1903, and was enlarged and modernized in 1939 in the Depression Modern style, with its white stucco and dark stone exterior, vertical banding, large clock and store letters. An addition was made to the top of the building in 1950.

The Barringer Building is considered to be South Carolina's first skyscraper. Built in 1903 as the National Loan & Exchange Bank, the building is a steel-frame structure rising twelve stories above Main Street.  It was renovated into 75 apartments by Capitol Places, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

In the early 1900's, Columbia was a regional manufacturing center, with six mills in operation, including the adjacent Granby and Olympia textile mills shown here. These mills employed over 3,400 workers, with an annual payroll of almost a million dollars.

The first of these two mills, the Granby Mill, has been renovated into 140 apartments, and the Olympia Mill is currently being renovated as well.  The exterior facades of these century-old mills have been restored to their original appearance; however, the interiors offer 1,200 to 1,600 square foot upscale and modern apartments.

Completed in 1913 for the Palmetto National Bank, the Palmetto Building, on Main Street, was Columbia's second skyscraper, after the Barringer Building. One of the most modern structures in the Southeast when it was constructed, it was known as the "Woolworth Building of the South.

This historic building is presently undergoing renovations, preparing to become a five-star Sheraton hotel.

The S.H. Kress store on Main Street in Columbia was designed by Edward F. Sibbert, who joined S.H. Kress in 1929 and designed about 50 Art Deco style stores over a 25 year period. The Columbia store was built in 1935 and remained opened until 1993. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1998, the building was renovated and adapted for reuse by Capitol Places and now houses the Rising High coffee shop, while the upper floors have been converted into apartments. The Kress Building is considered Columbia's best example of Art Deco.

The South Carolina State Museum, located in Columbia, is the largest museum in the Southeast.  The museum is housed in the historic Columbia Mills building, which opened in 1894 as the world's first totally electric textile mill.

The museum opened in 1988 and now averages over 20,000 visitors each month, from all 50 states and 39 foreign countries.  The State Museum has been honored as an outstanding tourist attraction and also for its adaptive use of the former historic textile mill building.

Whaley’s Mill, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was an operating textile mill until 1975. It was built in 1895 by a native southerner, W. B. Smith Whaley, for whom Whaley Street is named. Mr. Whaley built twelve other mills in Columbia, including the mill that was later converted into the South Carolina State Museum (see above).

Whaley’s Mill was renovated at a cost of ten million dollars into a 170-unit apartment community designed mainly for University of South Carolina students.

Columbia's Union Station was built in 1902 to serve the Atlantic Coast Line and Southern Railways. Passenger service at this station ended in 1968. The station has been restored and is now the home of the California Dreaming Restaurant. For more pictures of this building and other train stations in Columbia, go to tsalmon.topcities.com.

The Seaboard Airline Railroad Station in Columbia is located in the  old warehouse and factory district known as the Congaree Vista, which had five railroad tracks crossing its main street, Gervais Street, as late as the mid 1980s. A 1982 edition of National Geographic Magazine named Gervais Street as one of the worst urban streets in America. With the removal of the railroad tracks and the restoration of the Seaboard Airline Railroad Station into shops and restaurants, the Vista now has over 40 upscale dining facilities and has earned a reputation as one of the finest dining and entertainment districts in the state.

The former Confederate Printing Plant, at the corner of Gervais and Huger Streets, is an outstanding example of Columbia's efforts to preserve history. The Publix Supermarket chain rescued this building and converted it into a modern supermarket, one of only three Publix markets in downtown cities in the Carolinas. For more views of this building, go to our Publix page.