Seibels House
1601 Richland Street

The Hale-Seibels House generally is accepted as Columbia's oldest structure, built perhaps as early as 1796 as a home for A.M. Hale. Claiborne Clifton, mayor of Columbia, owned the property for some time, but later it came under the ownership of Captain Benjamin F. Elmore, Treasurer of the State of South Carolina. Elmore was the first owner to make additions to the property, constructing a piazza on the front in the 1850s. John Jacob Seibels purchased the home in 1858, beginning a one-hundred-and-thirty-year ownership by the same family. During the 1920s, the Seibels added dormers to the roof, a brick veneer to the front façade, a sun porch, and cultivated gardens around the house. Today, the site features the only kitchen flanker still standing in Columbia. This significant structure, believed to date to the 1830s, is the venue for an archeological study aimed at better understanding the history of the site and the people who lived here, both enslaved and free.

George R.P. Walker, a Seibels family descendent, turned the house into a gallery for fine antiques in 1962 and named it the Picriccorn House as a derivation of the intersecting street names along the corner lot. In 1969, the property was listed under this name in the National Register of Historic Places. After the gallery closed, Hudson's Restaurant opened on the property and remained here until the early 1980s. The Walker family donated the property to Historic Columbia in 1984. After a series of renovations, the building became home to the administrative offices for Historic Columbia, as well as a rental property for special functions and long-term office leases. Today, the property and its gardens are available for weddings, meetings, or parties.

Staci Richey and John Sherrer

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