2025 Preservation Awards | 1429 Hagood Avenue
Friday, May 16th 2025
WINNER | Revitalization (any ownership or use)
1429 Hagood Avenue
Martha Fowler — Property Owner
Don Blackstone, Blackstone Construction — Contractor
Rachel L. Walling — Preservation Consultant
Some residences standing in historic and architectural conservation districts like that of Melrose Heights-Oak Lawn feature garages and garage apartments established in the 1920s through 1950s. Repurposing elements of properties can involve teaching old buildings new tricks through sensitive adaptations. Assembling the right team, from owner to contractor to preservation consultant, makes such undertakings successful.
Enter long-time Melrose Heights resident Martha Fowler, a previous Historic Columbia Preservation Leadership Award winner, community activist, and member of a family established in Columbia by the mid-1850s. Martha’s desire to transform an underutilized garage into a fully modern accessory dwelling unit proved that great things can come from modest foundations.
Located immediately north of her ca.-1917 bungalow, the one-story garage was listed as a contributing structure within the National Register of Historic Places-listed neighborhood established in 2016. Consultation with Rachel Walling, senior preservationist with the City of Columbia, ensured that work performed by general contractor Don Blackstone, who brought previous historic property experience to the equation, arrived at a vision that included a custom-designed full kitchen, bathroom, washer/dryer, primary suite, and living area within the envelope of the building’s original footprint.
Images courtesy Martha Fowler.
Before & After | Exterior
Explore the
Economic Impact Study
This study's findings reinforce our long-held position on the importance of historic preservation for the city's economy and support our work advocating for policies that encourage preservation and the reuse of historic buildings. Columbia’s architectural heritage is not simply an exercise in nostalgia; it is an informed, strategic investment in the future.
Check out some of the other 2025 Preservation Award recipients:
2025 Preservation Awards | 1700 Huger Street
In 2016, two of Columbia’s most respected family-owned businesses— Flooring by Cogdill and Cromer’s Peanuts—left what for most passersby was simply a large commercial building featuring a post-modern, multi-story office and retail space from the mid-1980s. In 2022, after nearly six years having stood vacant, 1700 Huger Street found new life when it was purchased and transformed to meet the needs of Columbia Presbyterian Church, a young congregation of over 500 members that had outgrown its previous location in the Cottontown area.
2025 Preservation Awards | 1324 Richland Street
A desire to pay homage to local businessman and political activist Joseph Azar led relative William Akel to construct a new commercial building on land that had previously stood vacant for decades following a fire that claimed the ca.-1860 cottage originally fronting Richland Street.
2025 Preservation Awards | DePass House
Nestled in the National Register of Historic Places-listed University Hill neighborhood, 920 Gregg Street, aka the DePass House, is notable for architecture and for its association with a former owner involved in South Carolina’s last legally sanctioned duel.
2025 Preservation Awards | John C. Heslep House
Recently significantly rehabilitated, 303 Saluda Avenue arguably ranks among Columbia’s most iconic early twentieth century residences. Today home to the Tomlin family, the ca.-1917 house grew into its current form and style between 1927 and 1928 under the ownership of John C. Heslep, a prominent local contractor.