1332 Main Street

Equitable Arcade Building

The Equitable Real Estate Company—a group of Columbia businessmen headed by banker and developer Edwin Wales Robertson—hired Jonathan J. Cain to build Columbia's first indoor shopping center in 1912. The L-shaped terra cotta-clad Renaissance Revival style building (whose location was depicted in the 1919 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map) reportedly cost of $200,000 and featured an open arcade patterned after those in Italy and “electric lights in handsome bronze chandeliers, according to The State newspaper. In 1970, its open-air style was enclosed with the addition of windows near the roof. From 1972 until 1978, its basement held a series of restaurants and bars called Down Under Columbia. Under the current ownership of Peach Properties, the Arcade Mall has benefited from detailed historic preservation efforts that have revitalized the venerable landmark as one of Main Street's most desirable addresses.

American soldiers, recently returned from service during World War I, parade down Main Street in 1919. Historic Columbia collection
Equitable Arcade Building in the final phases of construction, 1912. Image courtesy Jeannine Callahan
Equitable Arcade Building, 1919. Image courtesy Sanborn Fire Insurance Map Collection, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
Down Under Columbia offered a blend of live music venues, eateries, and bars, in a similar, albeit smaller take on Underground Atlanta. Many establishments featured red, black and white color schemes for their decor, like the overall logo for the enterprise did. Historic Columbia collection
Down Under provided Columbians a unique destination full of quirky and hip bars and restaurants with a cool music scene. Image courtesy The State newspaper collection, Richland Library
Down Under looked like a small street lined with all types of buildings thanks to the use of architectural salvage and a lot of creativity. Image courtesy The State newspaper collection, Richland Library
Arcade Mall, 2018. Historic Columbia collection
Arcade Mall, 2018. Historic Columbia collection

Site of Parlor Restaurant

Benjamin “Ben” David (1852-1920) was born in Poland and immigrated to the United States with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph David (dates unknown), and his siblings, Rosa (1850-1893), Wolff (dates unknown) and Jacob (1854 - 1914) in 1855. He arrived in Columbia by 1875, where he is listed as selling wine and liquors on Assembly Street. By 1880, he was living in Chester, South Carolina, while his older sister, Rosa, was living with her husband, Barnett Berman, and children in Columbia. David returned to Columbia by 1891 and for several years worked as a merchant and saloon proprietor. In 1896, he opened the Parlor Restaurant in the Kendall Building on the 1200 block of Washington Street. The Parlor Restaurant would operate for 18 years at several locations in downtown Columbia, including the site of the Arcade Mall on Main Street.

Advertisement for Ben David’s Parlor Restaurant at 1336 Main Street. Reprinted from the Garnet and Black (University of South Carolina), 1902.
David’s first known advertisement for the Parlor Restaurant ran in the 1899 Columbia City Directory. The restaurant operated at 1342 Main Street from 1897 until 1899. Image courtesy South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
In 1900, the Parlor Restaurant moved to 1336 Main Street, where it remained until 1910, when plans for the Arcade Mall forced him to relocate once again. Image courtesy South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
Restaurant advertisements, including this one from the 1905 Columbia City Directory, regularly used Ben David's likeness. Image courtesy South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia
The restaurant hosted a Thanksgiving meal in 1910. The following year David relocated the restaurant to 1320 Main Street, where he remained until he retired in 1913. Reprinted from The State, November 22, 1910

Upon David’s death in 1920, he and his restaurant were eulogized in The State newspaper:

Mr. David conducted a restaurant, where the Arcade building now stands, for many years and became widely known as the best caterer in the state. At his restaurant legislators, business men, travelers and bankers as well as others found a rendezvous. They gathered there for their meals and were always sure of polite attention and plenty to eat. “Uncle Ben” made Columbia known as the “square meal town.”

“Uncle Ben” was buried in Columbia’s Hebrew Benevolent Society cemetery alongside his brother, Jacob David.

Equitable Arcade Building

Site of Parlor Restaurant

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