For over 170 years, the land now known as Finlay Park has been part of Columbia, South Carolina's civic story. The property began as Sidney Park in the mid-1800s, was later sold to the Seaboard Air Line Railroad and flattened for industrial use, then eventually returned to the public as a downtown park. When it reopened in the 1990s as Finlay Park, Landscape Architect Robert Marvin, FASLA, created a dramatic hillside landscape of walls, water, overlooks, and paths. The design gave the park a strong identity. It has been a place for walks, weddings, concerts, family photos and quiet afternoons in the middle of the busy city. But, like many beloved public spaces, the park also carried the weight of time. Its steep slopes, aging water features, hidden corners, and worn infrastructure made it increasingly difficult to use and more difficult to maintain.

Renewal Rooted in Memory
Finlay Park's recent renovation set out to do more than repair an aging park; it aimed to bring the park back into daily civic life without erasing the qualities people cherished most. The City of Columbia and a multidisciplinary design team - including Stantec, Civitas, LS3P, Chao and Associates, BGA, Johnson & King Engineers, F&ME, and Aiken Cost Estimators - used community input to shape a clear set of priorities: make the park safer, easier to navigate, more accessible, and more active while protecting its distinct character.

The site itself demanded a thoughtful response. With nearly 80 feet of elevation change, Finlay Park could not be solved with a simple ramp or a few new paths. Instead, the redesign treats movement as part of the experience. Gently sloped routes, plazas, overlooks, and bridges now help visitors move through the hillside in a natural way. A 235-foot-long, 9-foot-wide, cantilevered pedestrian bridge is one of the clearest examples. Suspended 30 feet above the grotto, it carries visitors behind the waterfall and over the rapids while remaining fully ADA accessible[MWT(1.1]. Throughout the park, the design makes spaces easier to understand. From many points, visitors can now see other paths, destinations, and activities. That simple improvement changes how the park feels. It reduces hidden areas, encourages people to explore, and spreads activity across the site instead of concentrating it in a few familiar places.

 

Water as Memory and Infrastructure
Water remains central to Finlay Park's character. The spiral fountain, waterfalls, rapids, grotto, and pond are tied to decades of memories. Removing those features might have simplified the renovation, but it would have also removed one of the park's emotional anchors. Instead, the updated water system retains the original idea while making it more reliable and sustainable. Water moves from the upper spiral fountain into pools, over a precast waterfall, through rapids and grotto spaces, and into a reshaped pond that also captures and treats stormwater. From there, runnels carry water to a new stream in the strolling gardens before it reaches a rain garden, where it is filtered and reused in a closed-loop system. Some areas of the pond were reduced to improve circulation and create a larger central lawn, but water remains one of the park's defining experiences. A new pedestrian bridge across the largest pond adds another point of connection.

A Stage for Public Life
At the heart of the renewed park, a relocated stage and new oval green create a flexible setting for concerts, festivals, and community gatherings. The stage is now oriented into the hillside, improving sound for audiences while reducing noise impacts on nearby neighborhoods. Though practical, the move is also symbolic: the park is once again positioned as a shared civic room for the city.

The renovation also turns necessary infrastructure into an architectural moment. Forty-two overlapping precast concrete panels transform an existing retaining wall into a glowing lantern after dark. Lighting tucked along the panel edges gives the wall depth, while a laser-cut steel framework behind it forms an overlook guardrail and frames views of the skyline. The lantern idea continues throughout the park, like in warm, welcoming buildings that tie the site together. Near the main green, a multiuse building called the Landing supports everyday comfort and event use with restrooms, concessions, rentals, and shaded gathering space.

Public art adds another layer to the experience. Rotating sculptures and locally inspired murals bring color, texture, and story to the park. Future interactive art elements are planned to connect visitors directly with local history and community voices.

Safer, Brighter, and Easier to Read
Safety was another major concern. Before the renovation, dense plantings, poor lighting, blocked views, and disconnected spaces made parts of the park feel hidden or hard to read. The redesign responds by opening views into and across the park. Selective clearing, reshaped slopes, and stronger connections help visitors understand where they are, where they can go next, and who else is nearby. Lighting is used in the same spirit. Beyond making paths brighter, the project lights edges, buildings, walls, and landscape features so spaces feel more legible after dark. Park rangers, call boxes, cameras, and regular programming add further support by keeping people and activity present for a safer-feeling park with a stronger evening identity.

A Public Place Returned to the City
During planning and construction, some residents wondered whether the park would feel safe, whether the changes would honor its past, and whether people would return. After reopening, the answer became visible in daily use. Families came back to the playground. Visitors gathered on the lawn. Events brought crowds into the center of the park. Social media filled with photos and reactions from people rediscovering a place they had missed.

Finlay Park's renewal offers a useful lesson for cities with aging public spaces. Preservation does not always mean freezing a place in time. Sometimes it means listening closely to what people value, repairing what no longer works, and creating new reasons for people to come back. In Columbia, South Carolina, memory, access, safety, water, art, and everyday activity now work together. The result is a park that feels both familiar and new - a civic landscape restored not only as a destination, but as part of daily life.

As seen in LASN magazine, October 2026.