Between 1912 and 1913 the Palmetto Building rose here as an early skyscraper, and it towers over you now. Designed by architect Julius Harder with Wilson and Sompayrac as supervising architects, it opened as the tallest building in South Carolina — 215 ft (66 m) and 15 floors of ambition. Imagine the technical leap it represented: its completion helped establish Charles Coker Wilson’s credentials for steel-frame skyscraper construction, a milestone in local architecture.
In 1980 the Palmetto Building earned a place on the National Register of Historic Places, and since the mid-2000s it has housed the Sheraton Columbia Downtown Hotel, giving this landmark a continued public life. Photographers and historians will note it is documented in the Historic American Buildings Survey as HABS No. SC-611, recorded at 1400 Main Street at Washington Street in Columbia, Richland County. Stand close and let your eye travel up those 15 floors — you are looking at a building that once defined the state’s skyline.
Picture this 215-foot pioneer still anchoring the intersection of Main and Washington Streets.