Federal Building

Front inscription

Built 1964-65, this was originally a federal office building that housed more than 30 agencies of the U.S. government. Plans to locate a federal building here began as early as 1939, but World War II delayed the effort into the 1950s. It was the first major federal building project completed in postwar S.C. Designed by Charlestonian John Califf of Lyles, Bissett, Carlisle, and Woolfe, the seven-story Modernist building both praise and criticism upon its completion.

Reverse inscription

In 1972, Congress officially renamed the building for Lucius Mendel Rivers (1905-1970). A Berkeley County native and 29-year U.S. Congressman, Rivers secured valuable military projects for the Charleston area and helped ensure the building’s completion, later keeping an office here. Federal agencies and legislators occupied the building until 1999, after which it was threatened with demolition. It remained vacant until being reopened as a hotel in 2016.