{"id":4951,"date":"2026-08-20T09:36:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:36:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=4951"},"modified":"2026-08-20T09:36:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T09:36:14","slug":"a-years-long-fight-to-save-a-historic-columbia-house-is-over-its-coming-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usmovingexpertss.com\/?p=4951","title":{"rendered":"A years-long fight to save a historic Columbia house is over. It\u2019s coming down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nearly twenty years ago, Allen University took a historic home where one of its past presidents had lived and moved it two blocks over to make room for new dorms.<\/p>

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As part of the relocation, the university promised to restore the home to a livable condition, so future presidents could live there, too. But that never happened.<\/p>

Now, the deteriorating Robert Weston Mance House on Heidt Street, less than half a mile from the university\u2019s core, is coming down. The demolition comes after a years-long legal battle to try to save the house, and as a neighborhood leader has called it a safety issue and has lobbied for it to be razed.<\/p>

Historic house tied to Civil Rights<\/h2>

Today, the two-story American Foursquare frame house is a sea of broken beams, tufts of insulation and general rubble. Crews have started to take the building down. Teeth of a wooden railing hang loose and sharp from the front porch. The door is boarded but ajar. Two large black dumpsters overflow with more of the home\u2019s detritus in the front yard.<\/p>

The city has also formally deemed it an unsafe structure.<\/p>

But once, it was home to multiple generations of Columbia civil rights leaders.<\/p>

Built in 1903, the house originally stood on the corner of Pine and Hampton streets. It became known as the Mance House after the Rev. Robert Weston Mance bought it in 1922 while serving as president of Allen University. Mance lived there with his family, including his son, Dr. Robert Weston Mance Jr.<\/p>

Mance Jr. was a physician and educator who later became superintendent of Waverly Hospital.<\/p>

Waverly itself became a self-sustaining Black community, where African American leaders built businesses and institutions during segregation. Those included the Waverly Five & Dime, run by George Elmore, one of the men who successfully sued for the right for Black South Carolinians to vote in primary elections.<\/p>

Also in the district was Waverly Hospital, founded by African American Dr. Norman A. Jenkins to provide medical care to Columbia\u2019s Black community during segregation. The hospital later became part of Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital.<\/p>

Allen University and Benedict College served as anchors of the community. The Waverly Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 and added to the National Park Service\u2019s African American Civil Rights Network in 2021.<\/p>

Preserving Waverly\u2019s history is important, said neighborhood association president Ronald Davis, but not at the expense of safety.<\/p>