Nut house to get historic status

OK, we kid the old state mental hospital on Bull Street. Mental illness is nothing to joke about. Unless you joke about it. Our uncle spent some time in Columbia before we moved here, and made a number of rather funny jokes about “getting sent to Bull Street.” Really, it had more nuts than a Cromer’s store.

But, it’s also for sale. And, the Columbia City Council, thanks to members Belinda Gergel and (ugh) E.W. Cromartie, voted to call the site an “architectural preservation district.” Per The State‘s Jeff Wilkinson:

Preservationists said the overlay will preserve historic buildings and enhance the value of the property. The Mental Health Commission, which controls the property, said it might impede the sale of the 181-acre campus. It plans to use the proceeds to treat its patients.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and we have to do it right,” City Council member Gergel, a former history professor and former president of the Historic Columbia Foundation, said prior to the meeting. “That means preserving the signature buildings and making sure they are here for future generations to appreciate.”

Naturally, we support the plan to preserve the campus, because we’re history nerds. Also, friends of ours broke into one of the buildings about four or five years ago and and stole a fire evacuation plan from an abandoned building. Yes, it may have seemed OK to investigate a structure that had a 10-foot-high stack of mid-’90s Sports Illustrateds, but — damn. We can’t think of anything to say against that. It seems like a lot of fun if it doesn’t end up as the beginning to a horror movie.

According Gene Green, interest in the property has been “quality, not quantity.” We’ve heard some people want to turn the site into the Capital City’s Central Park. We’ll see if that’s possible.