Hampton-Preston Mansion
1615 Blanding Street

One of Columbia's oldest buildings, this three-story brick mansion was constructed in 1818 as a home for Ainsley and Sarah Hall. Originally, the property assumed a more Federal style appearance. Additions made in the mid-1830s by its second owner, Wade Hampton I, and other changes made between 1848-50, left the structure with a more Classical Revival style look. The most notable modifications involved stuccoing the mansion's red brick walls and adding a columned piazza on the building's south-facing façade.

The house eventually passed to Hampton's daughter Caroline and son-in-law John Preston. During Columbia's occupation by Union forces General John Logan used the estate as his headquarters, passing it on to Ursuline nuns who had lost their convent in the fire that consumed about a third of the city. From 1890-1930, the former antebellum estate was the site of two women's colleges - the College from Women (1890-1915) and Chicora College (1915-1930). Afterwards, it served a variety of purposes, including use as a boarding house, before becoming an historic house museum in 1970. A new exhibit focusing on the site's multiple uses from 1818 - 1970 and the people who once lived, worked, and studied there allows visitors to better understand the role this property played in Columbia's history. Tickets for tours of the mansion are available at Historic Columbia's Museum Shop, located adjacent to the Robert Mills House.

Staci Richey and John Sherrer

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