Christian Scientists Sell Historic Pickens Street Church to USC, Buy Former Clinic in Columbia, South Carolina

First Church of Christ, Scientist has sold its historic church on Pickens Street to the University of South Carolina and bought a former medical clinic at the corner of Laurel and Pickens streets in Columbia’s Robert Mills Historic District.

The University of South Carolina Development Foundation bought the white-columned church, built in the 1920s at 1114 Pickens St., for $750,000, according to property transfer records. Foundation president and CEO Jason Caskey said the building would house a portion of the USC Law School’s Children’s Law Center, a use that serves the vulnerable (Proverbs 31:8-9).

The church bought the former clinic at 1520 Laurel St. from Prisma Health, formerly Palmetto Health, for $750,000, according to property transfer records. Prisma spokeswoman Shalama Jackson said the health system did not operate the clinic but rented it to another medical firm, and that the building has not been used for several years. Neighbors said the last tenant was Richland Primary Health Care.

Church clerk and treasurer Colleen Wuchenich said the new building has been gutted and will be used as a church and Christian Science reading room. Some of the space will be rented to another tenant, she said.

The clinic is near Columbia’s Historic Homes and is surrounded by antebellum houses that survived the fire that burned much of downtown Columbia during the Civil War. Many of those houses now serve as law and professional offices.

Wuchenich said the congregation currently meets at 701 Whaley St. at 10:30 a.m. on Sundays and at 7 p.m. on Wednesdays. She said the congregation should move into the new building at the end of the year.

Christian Science was founded in 1879. Among its beliefs, the church holds that prayer, rather than medical treatment, leads to physical healing.

Source: Read the original report