Charleston, South Carolina – Developers and Charleston officials praised the successful restoration of the historic Bennett Rice Mill facade on Tuesday.
Located in downtown Charleston’s Union Pier district, the property has long been the focus of revival efforts as part of the Union Pier property’s overall renovation.
This will be the first fully restored and stabilized structure on the property’s grounds since SC Ports assumed possession in 1958.
The South Carolina Ports Authority describes the mill’s front as one of the best examples of nineteenth-century American industrial architecture.
Historical significance.
South Carolina Gov. Thomas Bennett, one of Charleston’s wealthiest plantation owners, commissioned the construction of a rice mill on his land in 1844, according to the Ports Authority’s website.
That mill, the smallest of Charleston’ three rice mills, grew to be one of the most prolific in the country before closing and changing hands.
Hurricane Donna in 1960 nearly damaged the mill, leaving only the western facade intact. Hurricane Hugo wrecked a little amount of what Donna had left standing in 1989.
Project officials stated that the facade was built 180 years ago and has been deteriorating for many years.
“The structure was constructed in the 1840s and was severely damaged by a hurricane in the late 1950s,” Jonathan Sigman, the project’s principal engineer, said. “The port stabilized the structure at the time, but until this renovation, it had not been fully restored. So our team conducted a thorough structural analysis of the facade.”
