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Dupre Building - Columbia, SC


About:

  • Name: DuPre Building

  • Location: 807 Gervais St. Columbia, SC 29201

Explanation:

  • Located within the Vista, the DuPre Building is a combination of shared architectural qualities similar to the Van Allen and Son Store by Louis Sullivan, the Leiter Buildings by William Le Baron Jenny and the Marshall Field Wholesale Store by Henry Hobson Richardson. Stylistically, the DuPre building represents a form of new modernization through commercial premises, which used both iron and steel framing and is clad in a rusticated exterior of brickwork. (73)

Description:

  • The DuPre Building is constructed of stone, brick and mortar with an interior framing of iron and steel. It is subjectively a conceptual design that separates the building into sections; instead of the use of layered protrusions from applied materials, this was accomplished by color blocking. The Marshall Field Wholesale Store – influenced by early Italian Romanesque palazzos – is relatable to the DuPre Building specifically because of the entryway. The entrance to the DuPre Building is framed out of stone in the shape of an arch. The stone used to frame the entrance is a light colored material, which is high in contrast against the dark brick used on the façade – solidifying the archway as the main entrance. Above the archway there are basic spandrels topped with a row of dentils. A molding constructed from the same material as the archway separates the first and second level. The frieze attached to the molding is decorated with four medallions, two on each side of the entryway. In between the second and third level, there are a total of 7 rectilinear sequences that demonstrate the success of color blocking, 6 of which are symmetrical to one another (the seventh being compressed by the entrance below). Like the Van Allen and Son Store and the two Leiter Buildings, the DuPre Building displays simply framed glass window panes that express a clear reference to the horizontal and vertical relationships of steel construction. The top of the building is crowned with an echoed design using a pattern of rectangular indentions and small medallions, which resemble the four located on the frieze that sits between the first and second level. (274)


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