05/29/2026
A small-scale brick brownstone – this is in New York, right? Nope. This one’s in downtown Columbia, South Carolina.
The distinctive three-story brick brownstone apartment building at 1116 Blanding Street was constructed in 1911 and known as the Marlboro Apartments. Designed by the prominent South Carolina architecture firm of James B. Urquhart, the Marlboro Apartment building features projecting polygonal bays on either end of the façade, a painted metal cornice, and a tan belt course dividing each story. Though small-scale brownstone apartment buildings are common in other cities, the Marlboro Apartment building is a rare local example of its type.
For the better part of the 20th century, the Marlboro Apartments housed six rooms for boarders. It had fallen into disrepair by 1983, when an intrepid team of local preservation enthusiasts adapted the building for new office use. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 as a Contributing Resource in the Columbia Commercial Historic District.
And it’s about to get a glow-up: Garvin Design Group and Hood Construction are currently undertaking a comprehensive rehabilitation to restore the Marlboro Apartment building to its original function.
