“G” is for Governor’s Mansion (Columbia). Until 1869 South Carolina never furnished its executive officer with a residence. Governors used their private homes to serve as the state’s executive office. In 1869 a “two-story brick tenement dwelling house” (formerly officers’ quarters for the defunct Arsenal Military Academy) atop Columbia’s Arsenal Hill was renovated. Governor Robert K. Scott resided there, but three of his successors chose not to do so. Since 1879, however all governors have resided there. For the next 125 years the structure was “extended, manipulated, retrofitted, and abused” to the point that by the end of the twentieth century a major overhaul was needed. Following a complete renovation (1999-2000), the Governor’s Mansion struck a sympathetic balance of old and new: updated, yet maintaining the historical identity that has made the property a statewide cultural landmark.
“G” is for Governor’s Mansion
