May 5, 2006
Sounds like progress
Charleston bell maker donates set made in 1938 to RiverPlace
By John Boyanoski
BELL TOWER: Furman University has a set of bells by the van Bergen Co.
Developer Bob Hughes had been looking for something to become the centerpiece
sculpture of RiverPlace for months, but nothing seemed to make sense for
the massive downtown retail and housing complex.
Until he got the call that rung his bell.
The owner of one of the world’s premier bell makers was building a home in Greenville County and read about the $137 million RiverPlace. He contacted Hughes to see if he could donate a set of 22 bells to the City of Greenville for the project.
The van Bergen Co. knows Greenville, having designed and installed the bells at Furman University and First Baptist Greenville.
“RiverPlace is about merging the old and the new,” Hughes said. “Bells match that. It says Old World. It says public gathering space.”
While the set of bells will be the sculpture in the center of RiverPlace, Hughes said a lot needs to be done including creating a carillon and a control system.
Hughes said he is working on a budget to pay for both, but could nto
say when the bells will be installed.
“We want something that will be worthy of these bells,” Hughes
said.
Cooper Carry, the agency that designed RiverPlace, has created a company-wide competition to design the carillon, said Roger Miller, the project’s chief designer.
A.H. van Bergen started casting bells in 1795, and Harry van Bergen, the company’s current president is the ninth generation to make bells, according to the company’s Web site.
Harry van Bergen and his father brought two carillons to display at the World’s Fair in 1939. Both sets sold with one of them going to Callie Self Memorial Church in Greenwood.
The Self family convinced the van Bergen family to move to South Carolina and leave Holland, which was about to be invaded by the Nazis, according to the company’s Web site.
Hughes said the bells being donated to Greenville were the last cast in Holand foundry.
The company’s bells are now cast in France, but assembled in South Carolina.
Some of the company’s recent projects include the bell tower at Central
Presbyterian Church in Anderson, the tower clocks at the Citadel and the University
of Nebraska and a single bell at St. James Church in Charleston.
The normally stoic Hughes couldn’t hide his enthusiasm for the bells, which
are small – none bigger than a watermelon – but heavy with
at least one weighing 200 pounds.
With 22 bells, any tune can be played. And after months of looking for something to put in the center of RiverPlace, he was surprised the answer fell in his lap.
HEAVY WEIGHT: One of the bells weighs about 200 pounds.
“I just happened to be the lucky guy who picked up the phone,” he
said. “Everyone said ‘bells, this is great.’”
RiverPlace is one of downtown’s biggest projects.
All told, RiverPlace will be nine buildings on 10 acres between Main
and Academy streets with the third phase across River Street. When complete
it will create a secondary downtown along the western banks of the Reedy.
RiverPlace has rolled of a long list of accomplishments since its official
February 2004 announcement. The 87,000-square-foot office building that
overlooks Falls Park on the Reedy has landed Britt Peters Construction,
insurance broker Marsh USA Inc. and the Womble-Caryle law firm.
It has three small office spaces still for rent, and two more are in negotiations, Hughes said. It has three restaurant sites as well, all of which are leased or discussions are being held with possible tenants.
The 10-unit RiverHouse and the 36-unit 55 RiverPlace are housed in two parallel buildings behind the office structure. The majority of those units have sold. Blocking off the four-building Phase I will be the Hampton Inn and Suites.
Underneath the building is a double deck-parking garage. City Council signed an agreement last week that would add 15 artist studios in the spaces facing the river.
The fifth building, and the first in Phase II, broke ground in November.
A massive water feature is set to open in the coming weeks.
Hughes said one of the main themes of RiverPlace was creating old and new in a city feeling. The bells add to that feeling.
“It makes you feel somewhat special to be getting these,” he said.