Charleston Districts Fit for the Future

By Meredith Murphy

The impacts of preservation are often beneficial to middle and upper classes, but detrimental to the displaced lower class. The Ansonborough Project in Charleston exemplifies how restoration affects people from opposing socio-economic standings.

The Historic Charleston Foundation renovated the structures in the Ansonborough neighborhood improving their aesthetics and functionality. As a result, the neighborhood was no longer affordable for its previous predominately black inhabitants, who were replaced by mostly white families. The impact of a preservation project has a direct affect on society and where people are displaced.

Historic Charleston Foundation employed the Ansonborough Project in the 1950’s to save a neighborhood comprised of six blocks of historic structures. The neighborhood of Ansonborough includes Calhoun, Meeting, East Bay, George, Laurens, Society, Wentworth, Hassell, and Pinkney streets.

A major objective of the Ansonborough project was to improve the aesthetic and structural aspects of the buildings and the neighborhood as a whole. The issue was that the lower class inhabitants of the buildings did not have the means or knowledge to preserve them. The Historic Charleston Foundation took it upon themselves to make Ansonborough a manifestation of affluence shown through the exteriors of its buildings.

A majority of the houses were rehabilitated to their original use, but some of the large single-family houses or non-residential structures were converted into multiple family houses, offices, and stores allowing the original structure to subsist. What are now four condominiums on 55 Society Street, once was the first public high school built in 1842.

Although the project was a success in regards to its goals to preserve an entire neighborhood, gentrification issues followed. The Ansonborough Project created problems for the lower class residents who were forced to move further outside of the city. The project brought gentrification problems to light that would need to be solved for future rehabilitation projects.

The 2008 Vision, Community, Heritage, Preservation Plan for Charleston searches for solutions to preserve a rapidly changing city. This will keep neighborhoods from falling into the state of disrepair that Ansonborough was in during the 1950’s. To diversify neighborhoods, an infill of affordable housing will be constructed downtown. If action is not taken, the city of Charleston will lose its economic and racial diversity like it did in the Ansonborough neighborhood.