A building constructed to withstand fire has an enemy its engineers didn’t foresee – the waters of the Augusta Canal, which threaten its existence.
MORE: Eroding canal bank poses threat to school building
At the May 31 Augusta Commission meeting, it was revealed that building which is now part of the campus of John S. Davidson Fine Arts Magnet School is in danger of collapsing into the canal.
The Davidson Fine Arts School’s art building is in danger of collapsing into the Augusta Canal’s second level. Photo by Charmain Z. Brackett
According to a June 1 article in The Augusta Press Dayton Sherrouse of the Canal Authority and Benton Starks, senior director of facilities for the school board, attended the Augusta Commission’s Administrative Services Committee meeting to discuss the issue. Sherrouse said it had been a problem since 2016.
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“If you look that picture, you see where it’s undermining the building, and if it’s not corrected, the risk of the building collapsing and falling into the second level of the Canal,” Sherrouse said, according to Sylvia Cooper’s article.
Sherrouse and Abie Ladson, the city’s former engineering director, met at the site in 2016, along with Mayor Hardie Davis Jr., and he has met more recently with current city Engineer Hameed Malik, to get the failing bank corrected before “we have a catastrophe down there,” Sherrouse said, the article stated.
The structure is used for arts instruction. It was originally built around 1908 by Georgia Iron Works. according to Erick Montgomery of Historic Augusta. An October 1908 article in “The Augusta Chronicle” said it was built at a cost of $6,000 and was designed as a storage facility to hold patterns.
When the school was built, the building was saved and incorporated as part of the design. It won Historic Augusta’s Historic Preservation Award in 1995.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the managing editor of The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com
