Denmark High School, Denmark South Carolina

Date added: September 25, 2023 Categories:

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The previous Denmark School, which once stood adjacent to this school, was a two-story brick building for grades one through ten constructed in 1908 according to designs by Charles Coker Wilson, prominent Columbia architect. An eleventh grade was added to the school in 1911. The new Denmark High School opened for the 1920-21 year with E.T. Spigner as its first principal and housed grades seven through eleven, with the elementary grades remaining in the old school building. The two schools were connected by a covered walkway and the old auditorium and lunchroom served both the Denmark Elementary School and Denmark High School.

The school was significantly enlarged in 1932 with a gymnasium, additional classrooms, and restrooms, and after a twelfth grade was added to Denmark High School in 1948 the building was enlarged again to include additional classrooms and restrooms as well as a teacher's lounge; the fifth and sixth grades from the elementary school moved into the 1948 addition as well.

In 1957 Denmark High School and Olar High School were consolidated to form a new Denmark High School, with a new brick building constructed on South Palmetto Avenue not far from this building. After the 1908 building, still serving as an elementary school, was demolished in the 1960s a few grades of the Denmark Elementary School moved into this building and occupied it until about 1985, when a new elementary school was constructed. The Denmark High School has been vacant since that time.

The original 1920 building was likely the design of Charles Coker Wilson, since it closely resembles other examples of his schools of the same period. Other Wilson school designs of the Classical Revival or Colonial Revival mode in the 1920s era not only contained cupolas (such as Rosewood Elementary School in Columbia and Greenwood High School, in Greenwood, to name only two), but also contained the chevron-patterned and glazed color tile friezes and similar floor plans, functional layouts, and architectural treatment that this building includes. Wilson is supposed to have designed a $28,400 addition to the Denmark Grade School in 1928; whether his design was what was finally built in 1932 as the gymnasium and classroom addition or not is still open to debate. Nothing further is known about the possible or probable involvement by other architects in any part of this building.

The roof of the building has recently been repaired by the owner and a matching sub-grant was provided from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History. Further rehabilitation and repair work has been planned by the owner, with adaptive reuse in mind for the entire building.

Building Description

Denmark High School, on North Palmetto Avenue in Denmark, South Carolina, is located on a full city block of 2.24 acres. It is a one-story brick building constructed in 1920 as a rectangular building, with two later rectangular brick additions, the first constructed in 1932 at the northeast corner of the original building and set at a right angle and parallel to that building, forming a U-shape, and the second constructed in 1948 to extend the original building, and thus elongating one arm of the U-shape.

The original 1920 building is laid in a five-to-one American bond pattern, contains a soldier course water table, and features as its centerpiece a projecting parapet-gabled entrance pavilion with a double-leaf entrance and a two-tiered arched glass transom and archivolt. A cast stone coping caps the parapet of this pavilion. To either side of the central pavilion along the building's western elevation (facade) are alternating single and tripartite window groupings. Each window unit contains large six-over-six light double-hung sash and cast stone sills. The tripartite groupings are slightly recessed and have continuous recessed wood paneled friezes, while the single windows feature decorative chevron-designed brick and glazed color tile, lozenge-accented friezes. Windows throughout the original building are similarly grouped but without the decorative friezes. A hipped roof features exposed rafter tails and is clad in gray slates. A large tiered brick chimney for the building's heating system rises now from the rear (east) slope of the roof, but when constructed rose from the southern terminal roof slope. A double-leaf secondary entrance is located at the northern terminus of the building and central corridor, where there was once a covered walk accessing the now-demolished 1908 elementary school. When built in 1920 (and at least until 1942) the building featured an octagonal wood louvered cupola with belcast roof.

The interior of the 1920 building contains an airlock vestibule with double-leaf doors mirroring those of the exterior but featuring a multi-paned glass transom and sidelights that cover the entire inner wall of the airlock and transmit light into the large T-shaped cross corridor. Corridors are double-loaded and approximately ten feet wide with at least twelve to fifteen-foot-high beaded board ceilings; walls are plaster with dropped picture moulding. Several classrooms, two offices, and a combination library and study hall are all accessed from the corridors by wide, single-leaf horizontal paneled wood doors over which are oversized (approximately 5' tall x 4' wide) operable glass transoms. Additional operable ventilating windows, often paired, are present in many of the classrooms and other spaces to enhance airflow from the corridors in winter and cross ventilation from outside in the warmer months. The interior spaces still have their plaster walls, picture moulding, and beaded board ceilings; some of the classrooms retain their blackboards and cloakrooms. The library/study hall room features a door opening with a six-light transom and flanking paired six-over-six light, double-hung sash windows which provided easy observation from one space to the other, light and air circulation. Two square wood support piers are also located within the larger library space.

The 1932 addition includes a gymnasium, two restrooms, and four classrooms. The gymnasium addition is a rectangular brick building with a truncated gable-on-hip roof and exposed rafter tails at the eaves. It is connected to the main or original block by a single-loaded corridor, the exterior (southern) side of which contains nine-over-nine light paired windows and a double-leaf entrance with sidelights and transom to access the U-shaped courtyard. Some deterioration of material has occurred in one segment of this corridor due to a failed roof. The interior of the gymnasium is accessed from the corridor at the uppermost point of the tiered oak seating (bleachers) lining each side of the gym floor. The natural topography at this location of the parcel allows for a sunken-type athletic arena. Also evident within the gymnasium space are the heavy timber support piers and an impressive heavy timber roof truss system. Because the roof at the rear of the gymnasium has failed due to neglect during recent years, a significant portion of the gymnasium floor has rotted and collapsed. Classroom windows in this addition are either single or paired with nine-over-nine light, double-hung sash; however, the singles often flank the paired ones in a tripartite configuration. The corridor between the gymnasium and classrooms terminates at the rear (east elevation) of the building with a segmental-arched entry portal that is accessed by masonry steps with pedestal wails and contains a double-leaf doorway with a fourteen-light transom. Two other single-leaf entrances in the rear of the gymnasium flank three paired windows and once provided access from the girls' and boys' dressing rooms to the athletic fields.

The 1948 addition or extension of the main (original) block approximately doubles the length of the building's facade and includes eight additional classrooms, two restrooms, and a teacher's lounge. Its walls are also laid in a five-to-one American bond pattern and in a similarly colored and textured brick. The soldier course water table extends uninterrupted from the original block; however, there is a slightly noticeable seam at the two buildings' juncture. Massing is similar to that of the original; the hipped roofline simply extends to the south along the same plane, only clad with composition/asphalt shingles instead of slates. Exposed rafter tails are evident on this building as well. Similarly, too, this segment of the building features a centerpiece projecting entrance pavilion accessed by a wide masonry stair with flanking pedestal walls of brick and cast stone coping. The gable-front projection with exposed purlins and rafter tails contains a well-executed segmental-arched portal faced in sectioned limestone. Within the portal is a double-leaf wooden entrance door with an oversized (ten-light) frosted glass transom. Fenestration on the facade of this segment of the building consists of four sets of tripartite groupings, with single double-hung windows flanking paired ones. Cast stone window sills are still in evidence. The southern terminus of the building contains solid walls with a central segmental-arched entry portal that is accessed by masonry steps with pedestal walls and flanked by brick quoins. Within the portal is a double-leaf door with a ten-light transom.

The interior of this section retains much of its original character, and a large double-loaded corridor provides interior connections to the eight classrooms, teachers lounge and the original 1920 building. Wood floors, plaster walls and ceilings are in evidence. For the most part this building is in good structural condition except for the southernmost rear room where the floor has collapsed due to heavy storage in that space over the years.