The resulting investment led to some of the city\u2019s largest construction projects of the 20th Century \u2014 including many of Main Street\u2019s office towers and much of the western edge of USC\u2019s downtown campus.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Frames mark the outlines of buildings that once stood on the Mann-Simons site in Columbia.<\/p>\n
CALEB BOZARD \/ STAFF<\/p>\n
But the development also displaced many historic structures and often targeted lower-income and predominantly non-White communities, Halberg said. Many of those neighborhoods contained many cottages.<\/p>\n
Around 75 percent of the Columbia cottages built in the city no longer stood by 2015, Halberg wrote at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think what that means is the ones that do survive are even more important to recognize and preserve,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
There hasn\u2019t been any major additional loss of the surviving buildings since then, Sherrer said.<\/p>\n
Despite the homes being similar in prominence in the city as iconic home styles in other cities like Charleston and New Orleans, the Columbia cottage hasn\u2019t seen the same recognition.<\/p>\n
Halberg attributed some of this to Columbia\u2019s later adoption of historic preservation movements than those cities. The style\u2019s less formal definition, simpler form and resemblance to other homes may have also played a role, she said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Historic Columbia marker outside of the Mann-Simons site, which includes a surviving example of a Columbia cottage-style house.<\/p>\n
CALEB BOZARD \/ STAFF<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople, I think, maybe have overlooked it, as you know, maybe not as important,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s kind of unfortunate that it\u2019s not more popular and people don\u2019t sort of recognize it more than they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most of the surviving homes have been repurposed as commercial properties or businesses, like the Maxcy Gregg House<\/a> at 1518 Richland St., which now houses law offices.<\/p>\n