How CCSD Cares for Its Assets: Rivers Demolition

Demolition by neglect.
First photo taken Fall 2006. Rest of photos taken August 2008. [Photos courtesy of a reader]

(1st ) Rivers, main building, 1st floor, 2006. Main hall is well lighted and maintained.

(2nd) Main hall 2 years later (2006 vs. 2008) with no maintenance. Some door frames have been stripped from openings; doors and hardware have been removed in other locations. This building was fully functional with Adult Education and administrative offices located here until late 2007.

(3rd) Appears to have once been a home economics classroom, complete with relatively new or unused kitchen appliances. These have been abandoned and are now piled high with discarded boxes and packing materials. . .a fire hazard.

(4th) What remains of a classroom last used by the MGAP in 2007. It was originally designed as a science lab but has been largely stripped of its fixtures and plumbing.

(5th) The Rivers School library, largely left intact by the middle school that moved out a few months before, was completely made over in the Fall of 2005 to host the downtown Adult Education Center and offices. As of August 2008 this same space has been stripped of its fixtures and left in far worse shape than it was in 2005. Once again CCSD has abandoned a library and a large collection of books to their fate.

(6th) Classroom space. Photo speaks for itself.

(7th) Walls of chorus room on 2nd floor have been stripped of plaster and taken down to masonry partition walls. Note concrete structural columns embedded within partition wall.

(8th) Until recently the entry area at the rear of the auditorium was maintained and functional. This is also the same area set aside for several city voting precincts. The destruction of this floor area appears to have taken place since the presidential primaries held in January 2008.

History Lesson

The school was originally constructed as a junior high school in 1936, using federal Works Projects Administration (WPA) funds designed as an economic stimulus during the Great Depression. In the early 1950's, Rivers was transformed into a high school designed to serve the northwestern neighborhoods and early 20th century suburbs of downtown Charleston.

The main building's exterior style was neo-colonial, or as some would say, neo-Williamsburg. The architect was Albert Simons, a local architect well known at the time who also designed other WPA projects in Charleston, including the Dock Street Theatre, Memminger Auditorium, and the College of Charleston's Silcox Gymnasium.

By the late 1970's Rivers was reduced to a middle school, finally ceasing to be used as a traditional school in 2005.

Who's been minding the store?