New Court House Approved By Delegation

County Board Authorized To Begin Work on Project

COLUMBIA - Spartanburg's legislative delegation flashed the go-ahead signal to the County Board here Wednesday to construct a new court house at an estimated cost of $918,000.

Members of the County Board met with the delegation in Columbia and with Harold Woodward, architect to discuss the proposed building on the present site of the Spartanburg County Court House.

AFTER LENGTHY consideration at a luncheon meeting and in a committee room at the State House the legislators told the County Board to go ahead with the project. However, the final plans for the new structure probably will not be ready for at least 6 months.

Architect Woodward said that he would like to have that much time to go into drafting of plans. He pointed out that work thus far has been mainly survey of the situation and estimating the costs.

Some $5,000 of $10,000 appropriated last year for planning has been used to reach the conclusion that a new structure rather than re-modeling of the present Court House will be preferable and more logical.

WOODWARD POINTED out the various problems would be almost insoluble if use of the old building was desired.

Present plans would call for a U-shaped building around the present court house. Woodward said this work could be done without disrupting use of the present Court House till the new one is completed. Tentative plans would call for building the new one and then tearing down the old one to leave an open court in the half circle of the modern structure.

Sentiment was in the delegation that the new building should look "like a court house and not like an office building."

WOODWARD POINTED out it would be necessary to gut the old structure if it were used at all. "The main difficulty," he said, "would be that it would have to be confined to the old walls if the remodeling were done instead of putting up a new court house. He said the cost would be about $28,000 more for a new building.

He said that plans would call for offices on the first two floors of a new 3 story building to separate regular Court House employees from the court rooms and the crowds that gather while the courts are in session.

After hearing Woodward and the County Board members, the delegation voted to authorize the Board to go ahead with the project on the pledge that funds would be provided when the final plans are made.

REP. McCHESNEY spoke for "cutting expenditures all we can this year, using the county surplus and then selling bonds of about $600,000 to finance the project." But no definite financing plan was adopted.

Woodward said that he would like to have 6 months to perfect plans for the building. There the delegation left it with the County Board, composed of J.R. Mallory, George Shea and S.J. Workman, authorized to handle the matter.