DATE: Tuesday, July 1, 1997                 TAG: 9707010218

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: CHARLESTON, S.C.                  LENGTH:   54 lines

OLDEST BUILDING IN CAROLINAS REOPENS FOR TOURS AN AUDIO TOUR GUIDES PEOPLE THROUGH RENOVATED 1712 CHARLESTON BUILDING.

The oldest building in the Carolinas is again ready for visitors after four years of renovations.

The Old Powder Magazine was built in 1712. It is the only structure in North Carolina or South Carolina that dates back to the Lords Proprietors, English noblemen who originally owned and ruled the joint province of Carolina.

However, its presentation now is all new and unlike any other historic Charleston site. Spotlights and an audio presentation guide visitors through the building.

``We wanted to use audio as a major element and to combine this with the elements of a traditional exhibit as well,'' said Richard Molinaroli, who designed the exhibit during the building's refurbishing.

Historic Charleston Foundation assistant curator Robert Leath says the audio program lasts about five minutes and visitors have roughly 15 minutes to look around before the program starts again.

Visitors also must contend with tight spaces and high temperatures in the building, which is not air-conditioned.

Leath said to get the most from the audio program, a visitor must listen to it from start to finish and be able to walk around the magazine.

``We're going to play it by ear. It's going to be very flexible, very visitor-friendly,'' he said. ``We can't interrupt the program by people coming in and out, so that will be a private experience for the visitors.''

Harold Pratt-Thomas Jr., chairman of the Powder Magazine Committee, said $440,000 was spent on the restoration of the building and the creation of the program.

The renovations include a wood floor and a scored stucco exterior that replicated the originals and Spanish roofing tile.

Richard Marks, the project's architectural conservator, said that in order to make the magazine as authentic as possible, the architects researched English powder magazine construction. The earliest known picture of the magazine dates back to 1840, more than 120 years after construction.

Marks figured over the years the building had at least four different floors and several different roofs and exteriors. He thinks the magazine also has been used as a wine cellar, a print shop and a livery stable.

The state chapter of the Colonial Dames of America, a group dedicated to the preservation of and education about historic places, bought the building a few years after the turn of century.

They maintained it until about four years ago, when they entered a lease agreement with the Historic Charleston Foundation to restore and preserve the magazine.

``I think it's going to be a wonderful, wonderful addition to the education of our schoolchildren as well as all the citizens,'' Colonial Dames President Jan Beebe said.

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