Plans for school on Wyche property approved

By Cindy Landrum  

JUNE 23, 2011 8:37 a.m. (0)

Former Camperdown Academy headmaster Dana Blackhurst will be allowed to turn the Wyche House property on Augusta Street into a small private school and community park.

The city’s Board of Zoning Appeals granted a special exception to the residential zoning classification for the property at 2900 Augusta St. to allow a school with no more than 90 students.

School officials are required to meet with the city’s traffic engineers within a year of opening to evaluate the school’s traffic impact and to try to rectify any traffic safety concerns. If an agreement can’t be reached between the city and the school on ways to fix traffic safety concerns, the Board of Zoning Appeals will make a decision.

The Wyche House was built in 1931 as a “country estate” for Greenville attorney C. Granville Wyche.

Blackhurst plans to use the house, which was one of the most expensive and elaborate residences built in Greenville in the 1930s and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, as his personal residence and for offices for the school.

The school plans to open as early as October.

The Chandler School, named after Erskine College education professor Katherine Chandler who helped Blackhurst get into Erskine even though he didn’t have a high school diploma, will serve kindergarten through eighth grade.

Classes will have no more than 10 students each and will be limited to one class per grade, Blackhurst said.

Architect David Anderssen said the environmental report for the project’s first phase is being finished and plans are being drawn for one or two of the facility’s classroom pavilions.

The classroom pavilions will be built in the woods between the property’s historic gardens and the Blythe Academy playground next door.

An existing garage will be converted to an art classroom.

Part of the property will be turned into a community park. It will also have a community garden.

The school will be math-focused and have an ecology-based curriculum.

In recommending the special exception, the city planning and zoning staff said, “The site enjoys a prominent location and history within the area; given its current physical condition and legal restrictions, a school will provide a continuing legacy.”

The property has a deed restriction from the Naturaland Trust that prevents the property from being subdivided into multiple residential lots, according to documents filed with the city.