The J. Bratton Davis United States Bankruptcy Courthouse is a courthouse of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, located in Columbia, South Carolina. It was originally constructed in 1936, under the supervision of architect Harold Tatum. The courthouse is named for J. Bratton Davis, a bankruptcy judge first appointed in 1978 who later became Chief Judge of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of South Carolina, and he served in that capacity until 2000.The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, having been added to the list on March 2, 1979.HistoryIn the summer of 1932, the Postmaster General and Secretary of the Treasury authorized $550,000 for the construction of a new courthouse and office building in Columbia, South Carolina. This structure was intended to replace the older Federal Building which had been built in 1875 at 1737 Main Street. The mayor of Columbia began investigating the possible purchase by the city of the old Federal property. The city arranged to exchange the property it owned at the southeast corner of Laurel and Assembly Streets for the Federal Building on Main. The original Federal Building still stands on Main Street as the Columbia City Hall.The U.S. Courthouse was designed by Harold Tatum in 1935. Tatum was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and was one of the few university-trained architects in Columbia. Archibald Brown was Construction Engineer and James Barnes of Springfield, Ohio was awarded the contract to construct the building.
