Charleston Peoples Building destabilized by water intrusion | News
2 min read
A Charleston landmark
Workers for months have been replacing old windows that had been allowing water inside. The problems with the steel support beam on the northwest corner were first detected during an inspection after Tropical Storm Debby to determine whether the new windows had withstood the storm.
The steel beam was severely corroded near the top of the building, Witty said, with the damage getting less severe on lower levels. That rust distribution means it’s more likely that rainwater is entering the building from above versus floodwater intruding from below.
Witty said the new windows should help prevent leaks.
The leader of The Historic Charleston Foundation said problems with the steel beams began years ago after someone removed the cornice from the edge of the roof. Cornices are largely ornamental, but they also help prevent water from entering a building.
The penthouse on the top two floors of the Peoples Building in downtown Charleston sold for $12 million in 2020.
The building houses seven condos on its upper floors and several businesses below. The condo owners typically leave Charleston during the summer, and none were living there when the evacuation was ordered, Witty said.
The penthouse, with a 3,100 square-foot patio overlooking the city, sold in 2020 for $12 million, the highest price anyone had paid for a home in the city at the time. It’s undergoing renovations that allowed for a better view of the building’s insides than engineers might otherwise have had.
Even from the sidewalk below, the building almost smells like money. Two display leopards are perched by the entryway. The granite façade on the lower two floors gives way to yellow brick and terra cotta above that in the right sunlight look gilded.
As the building rose above the city in 1910, some residents worried it would ruin Charleston’s character and skyline.
“It’s funny how you go back and read accounts from the community, and they’re freaking out about a lot of the same things we talk about still today, which is traffic and cars and tourists and development,” said Winslow Hastie, president and CEO of the Historic Charleston Foundation. “So there was, I think, some hand-wringing going on while the same time, there was this sort of excitement, too, that this was a turning point in the city.”
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