‘A great project’: A former Columbia funeral home finds new life as coffee shop, housing
A home with 130 years of history on a main thoroughfare in Columbia is now ready to embrace a new future.
Restoration work has officially been completed on the W.B. Smith Whaley House at 1527 Gervais St. in Columbia. The structure, initially built in 1892 and 1893, had several uses in its more than a century of existence, including a decades-long stretch as Dunbar Funeral Home.
On Wednesday, developers, elected officials, historic preservationists, members of the business community and others gathered for a grand opening of the renovated home, which is finding new life as a multi-use facility directly across the street from the University of South Carolina’s law school.
Knowledge Perk has opened a coffee shop and cafe on the first floor of the building, and there are six apartments on the upper floors of the house, several of which have already been leased.
A cadre of partners came together and worked for several years to make the renovation and reimagining of the Whaley House happen. Among them was Ohio-based GBX Group, which specializes in projects involving historic buildings in urban areas. GBX has worked on several projects in Columbia in the last decade-plus, including the historic Tapp’s building in the 1600 block of Main Street, among others.
There also were local partners, including developer Tom Prioreschi, attorneys Robert Lewis and Chris Rogers and developer Will Brennan, a member of Columbia City Council.
Historic Columbia, the National Park Service and others also provided guidance on restoring the home while maintaining its historic integrity.
Antonin Robert, president of community development at GBX Group, said the Whaley House, from an historic context, is “is very important to the city of Columbia,” and sits in a very prominent location along Gervais.
“You are walking distance to the (USC) Horseshoe, you are across the street from the law school, you are walking distance to the State House,” Robert said. “You have a business community, you have a government community and you have an academic community all around the area. That was critical.”
Robert said the partners always knew they wanted to have a retail and apartment mix as part of the Whaley House renovation. He also said there are preliminary plans to build more housing in the large parking lot behind the Whaley House. While details are still being hashed out, Robert estimated there might be 20 residential units in that second phase. Those units would not touch the Whaley House structure.
Ryan Sanderson is the CEO and co-founder of Knowledge Perk. The burgeoning coffee company has shops in several locations, including in Fort Mill, Rock Hill and in North Carolina, with spots coming soon in Myrtle Beach and Spartanburg. He said the historic nature of the Whaley House helped sway him into making it the site of the company’s first Columbia shop.
“We had someone tell us there was a spot in downtown Columbia looking for a coffee shop,” Sanderson said. “We decided to come and check it out. The second I saw the building and learned it was on the National Register (of Historic Places) and heard it used to be a funeral home, I was like, ‘Yep, that’s a Knowledge Perk.’
“For some people that might be a detractor, but for us it fits with the vibe of what we want to do. We have two other locations that have historic significance, and part of what we have done is to try to pay homage to that.”
Per the state Department of Archives and History, the house at 1527 Gervais St. was built by Whaley, an architect and engineer. An entry from the home’s National Register description said Whaley “specialized in the design, engineering and building of cotton mills as well as in the construction of residences” and was responsible for the design and construction of the Olympia, Granby and Richland cotton mills.
The Gervais Street structure, which is a textbook example of Queen Anne architecture, was a residence until it became the Dunbar Funeral Home in 1924. It remained a funeral home for decades thereafter. Dunbar now has funeral homes on Devine Street in Columbia, in Irmo and in northeast Columbia.
Historic Columbia Executive Director Robin Waites said the Whaley House restoration was an example of how historic structures can find new uses while also highlighting their past significance. What once was the home of a noted architect and later a funeral home is now a spot where law students and neighbors can enjoy coffee or rent an apartment.
“To have the roots that are so important to Columbia’s story, with Whaley and all of the mills that are here and the association with him, making those connections from an historic perspective is key,” Waites said. “Now you have students and others having contemporary experiences in historic places. I think it builds a larger muscle for appreciation for preservation, at a bunch of different levels.”
At-large Columbia City Councilman Howard Duvall was among those at Wednesday’s Whaley House ceremony. He said the restoration of the property will be a bonus for the city.
“This is going to be a great project,” Duvall said. “It is right across the street from the law school, and they are going to come over here and drink a lot of coffee, and some of them are going to live here.”
