Repairs on this historic Beaufort building to begin 5 years after Hurricane Matthew
The 29 windows in the 103-year-old Carnegie Library building in downtown Beaufort, part of the city’s historic district, are being restored.
The city also is assessing the entire condition of the historically significant Craven Street building, which is a contributing structure in the Beaufort Historic District. The district is a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Several of its windows were damaged by Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and by Irma in 2017.
The city-owned Carnegie Library building opened in 1918 at 701 Craven St.
It was one of more than 1,600 public libraries across the United States, including 14 in South Carolina, funded by steel industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
It served as a library until 1964. Today, it houses the Beaufort/Port Royal Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The City Council on Sept. 14 selected Shenandoah Restorations of Irmo to restore the windows. Shenandoah’s $117,711 bid, one of four, was both the lowest and most responsive to the city’s request for proposals, finance director Kathy Todd said.
In July 2020, the city was awarded $188,500 in historic preservation funds from the National Park Service through the South Carolina Historic Preservation Office to restore the windows.
Work is scheduled to begin in October and will last roughly six months.
In related work, the city has hired an expert in building preservation to assess the entire library’s condition and provide cost estimates on any work that is needed. “I just think we need a plan,” said Linda Roper, Downtown Operations & Community Services director.
A grant of $12,500 from the South Carolina Department of Archives & History, which the city will match, is funding that work.
This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 12:26 PM.
