“Brick by brick” — deconstruction and preservation of Hunter-Gatherer Brewery begins
The team at Conway Salvage is looking for 10-15 volunteers to help with deconstruction beginning Monday, June 16th.
COLUMBIA, SC (WOLO) — Hunter-Gatherer Brewery has been a neighborhood favorite on Main Street since its doors opened in 1995.
And though all good things must come to an end — that doesn’t mean they can’t be preserved.
“The rule of thumb is you start at the top and just work your way down,” says Executive Director of Conway Architectural Salvage and Heritage Project, Alan Todd.
Conway Salvage is an architectural preservation organization in charge of the deconstruction process of the historic site of Hunter-Gatherer Brewery.
Along with Conway Salvage, the project is a community effort led by Historic Columbia, University of South Carolina Development Foundation, and One Columbia.
Todd, who is also a trained archaeologist, historian, and professor at Coastal Carolina, says a building is more than just its materials, it’s a space where people get to know one another.
“In some way, although I don’t know how to explain it, I think all of that gets infused into those buildings, and then when people learn a building is going to go away, it’s quite understandable. And I absolutely appreciate the reaction of frustration and, perhaps, anger because buildings do play such an important role in our lives,” says Todd.
That’s why the goal of Conway Salvage is to deconstruct the building brick by brick and board by board — saving, reusing, and recycling the pieces — to continue on its legacy.
“We proactively work to keep buildings standing, but when they’re going to come down, we’d much rather take them apart in order to save the materials for re-use so they can live on, and so that they can continue to tell their stories and be important for the local communities that love them so much,” he says.
The structure was built in 1913, first used as the E.B. Lyon Motor Car Company –selling the new Hudson ’37 for just over $1,800.
Over the years it would serve as a market, a drugstore, a barber shop, a deli, an ice cream parlor, and of course, most recently as a neighborhood bar.
A complete timeline is available here.
“Recovering these materials are hugely important because they don’t exist anymore. But if we can keep them out of the landfill, we can put them back into re-use, and they have hundreds of more years, life to live.”
Todd says the cypress wood used in building the site is stronger, thicker, and structurally more sound than materials used today, and the brick — is simply more beautiful. Yet more reasons to save them, he believes, saying, “It’s almost by definition, older buildings are gonna have finer materials.”
The project is slated to be complete by the beginning of July. The University of South Carolina has yet to release its future plans for the site.
The team at Conway Salvage is looking for 10-15 volunteers to help with deconstruction beginning Monday, June 16th. For more information on becoming a volunteer, email Alan Todd at info@conwaysalvage.org or call 520-229-7834.
