Marcel Breuer was a Hungarian master architect who completed this building in downtown Columbia as one of his last projects before retiring in 1976. He collaborated with architectural partner Herbert Beckhard and architect James C. Hemphill, Jr. from Charlotte, North Carolina, to design the complex.
The complex is a sixteen-story office tower paired with a long, low courthouse. It is built from a steel frame clad in pre-cast concrete panels and dark gray cold spring natural granite. The tower features repetitive windows with peaked hoods called brise soleils. These hoods are designed to minimize direct sunlight and reduce the interior temperature during warm South Carolina summers.
The office tower lobby contains colossal concrete columns. The interiors feature glazed, polished bricks on portions of the floors and walls, and concrete coffered ceilings create pattern and texture in public spaces. While the federal courts moved out in 2003, the architecture remains. The complex includes a sunken courtyard with a reflecting pool and an aluminum sculpture titled Right Turn on White, which is a white-painted rectangle standing on its side.
Officials decided to name the complex in 1975 to honor Senator and former Governor Strom Thurmond while it was still under construction. The project cost $23.5 million and housed tenants such as the U.S. Courts, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Geological Survey. The building is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Kyle McLonely
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