The Preservation Society of Charleston Inc

AdvocacyThe Preservation Society of Charleston (PSC) works to protect Charleston's historic buildings, cultural resources and communities by promoting better development practices, flood mitigation, and tourism management. We support a more livable, sustainable future for Charleston through advocacy, education, and community engagement. The PSC is in a unique position to analyze and explain the connections between planning and zoning decisions and the quality of life for people who live and work in Charleston. Through regular communication (both electronic and print) and an informative and versatile website, the PSC alerts citizens to the issues, encouraging them to engage with their public officials, and to have a voice in the public process. Additional aspects of our advocacy work include:Sustainable Growth and Development by DesignWith intense pressure for new, large-scale development is impacting every major city in America, and Charleston is no exception. The rapid Charleston population growth requires added vigilance to promote sustainable development patterns and preservation of the city's unique architectural character. The community must work together to ensure Charleston doesn't become "Anywhere, USA."Charleston has long been a pioneer in historic preservation. In 1931, urged by the PSC, the City passed the nation's first zoning ordinance to protect historic buildings. For nearly a century, our Board of Architectural Review has been a model for cities around the country, tasked with reviewing applications for demolitions, alterations, and new construction within an area covering over 1,000 acres.Yet, Charleston's desirability in the modern era has wrought major new challenges. City boards and commissions tasked with managing growth are inundated with requests that are ever-increasing in size and complexity. In the last several years, there has been a noted uptick in proposals that are incompatible with environmental realities and the character Charleston has fought to sustain for over 100 years.The PSC's vision for growth puts the responsibility on developers to demonstrate how their project contributes to our unique historic city. The focus of our land-use policies must be on creating a city that works for people, embracing humanistic and resilient design, not simply whatever will most profitably expand the tax base.FloodingCharleston's connection to the sea is integral to its identity. Yet water is a blessing and a curse for our built environment. We must address a complex suite of flooding challenges that threaten our historic city including storm surges, king tides, and groundwater inundation.Successful management of flooding in Charleston requires us to continuously press our public officials to manage growth wisely and invest in critical infrastructure to protect life and property. In the last several years, the impacts to our already flood-prone City have been noticeably accentuated by the rapid growth of our built environment and sea-level rise. Time is of the essence to ensure that the city's growth does not compromise its resilience.The PSC is committed to finding solutions that best safeguard our community and the heritage it stewards from increasing flood events and climate change. Charleston's distinct character, quality of life, and diverse neighborhoods are all at risk if we avoid the continuous need for comprehensive flood risk mitigation.Tourism ManagementThe Preservation Society is a committed advocate for sustainable tourism. The City was a pioneer when it adopted the nation's first local tourism management plan in 1978, but in recent years has missed opportunities to modernize its policies and programs. Key current issues in Charleston tourism that must be addressed include housing affordability, the loss of neighborhood businesses, and increasing congestion.Tourism is not new to Charleston. Visitation to historic buildings was an important economic driver of early historic preservation efforts in the 1920s. And, as the City quickly learned, over-tourism can have harmful consequences. When tourists began whisking away the decorative elements adorning the City's historic dwellings, the Preservation Society responded by pressing for stronger City oversight and later adopted an informal motto: "Gut Fish, Not Houses."Ironically, the destination marketing for Charleston today heavily features the iconic sites that earlier generations had the foresight to preserve. Rainbow Row, once a dilapidated set of rowhouses, graces social media feeds all over the world. Travelers are undoubtedly lured by the city's architectural beauty that preservationists have worked to defend.But, at a point, the attention can strain our City and diminish the values that make it so unique. We face a significant housing shortage at a time when market pressure for hotels and short-term rentals is soaring. Neighborhood-serving businesses are being pushed out by high-end shops and restaurants that cater to tourists. And the quality of the visitor experience is at risk when we romanticize and inaccurately characterize the City's past.Preserving The City of Charleston As A Living CityPreservation today is about honoring the living city - one that evolves to support the needs of the people who live and work here, while maintaining the elements that make is special. As preservationists, the PSC serves as a thought-leader and community organizer, ensuring that the lessons of the past inform the future of our city.Some of our Preservation Initiatives and Projects are as follows:The Carolopolis Awards - Our signature awards program promotes excellence in historic preservation through recognition of exceptional projects that protect the historic resources of Charleston and the Lowcountry. After more than 1,500 awards given, the Carolopolis Award has become as much a part ofthe fabric of the city as the buildings it honors.In February 2025, the PSC hosted the 71st Carolopolis Awards. The PSC recognized a diverse group of 28 winning projects.Resilience Guidance for Charleston - is an initiative of the PSC to empower residents to pursue adaptations that enhance their property's resilience to changing environmental conditions. This resource is the first of its kind for Charleston and was developed over the course of a year in partnership with the City of Charleston.Guided by a nationally-recognized design firm, and robust community feedback on experiences, attitudes, and priorities to address threat impacts, the guidance provides accessible, effective recommendations for enhancing the resilience of existing properties and provide residents the tools they need to navigate the city approval process.The Resilience Guidance for Charleston is organized by specific building and site components and provides readers with information to quickly identify areas of improvement, relative costs, level of necessary professional assistance, and local permit review requirements.UNION PIER REDEVELOPMENT - Union Pier, a 70-acre site in the City of Charleston, has functioned as a working waterfront for centuries. In 2020, the South Carolina State Ports Authority (SPA) contracted with a real estate development company to prepare the property for sale. The quickly-developing project led the PSC to set forward key principles for redevelopment and explore the history of the site to better understand itsevolution and cultural significance.The PSC has been working ever since to ensure the public's voice is heard in this process. A previous proposal had failed to respond to community concerns, including the size and scale of the built environment and insufficient resilience measures that should be the primary focus of new waterfront development. Now, new ownership has a much more sympathetic approach and the PSC is a key community partner to ensure compatible development.Charleston's Justice Journey (CJJ) - The is a project of the PSC that recognizes sites significant to African American history and the ongoing journey toward racial equality in Charleston and the Lowcountry. This online research and mapping initiative is a growing resource for deepening our collective understanding of people, institutions, movements, and events that shaped the course of the region's civil rights history. Through this project, the PSC is partnering with the community to elevate the full narrative of Charleston's history.Mapping Charleston's Black Burial Grounds - The Mapping Charleston's Black Burial Grounds Project is a community-led initiative to identify threatened gravesites in the City of Charleston, South Carolina. Made possible by funding from the National Park Service African American Civil Rights Grant Program, the digital map aims to increase public awareness of Black burial grounds to strengthen protections for these sacred spaces as Charleston grows and develops.