By Melissa Alonso | November 2026 – Atlanta, Georgia

A historic building that once welcomed generations of African American students on South Carolina’s St. Helena Island is entering a new chapter of preservation, with Georgia Tech's School of Architecture helping support the effort. 

Associate Professor Danielle S. Willkens and Georgia Tech architecture students will contribute to a $750,000 National Park Service grant awarded to the Penn Center National Historic Landmark District. The two-year project will support the stabilization and rehabilitation of the Butler Building, a 95-year-old structure that stands as a testament to the Penn Center’s legacy in African American education and the Civil Rights Movement. Georgia Tech is a subawardee on the grant, joining preservation professionals, community organizations, and university partners in an effort that brings together architectural research, historic preservation, and experiential learning. For Willkens, the project represents the next step in a relationship with the Penn Center that has developed through years of teaching, research, and community engagement.

Established in 1862 as the Penn School, the Penn Center was among the first institutions in the United States to provide education to formerly enslaved African Americans. Over the following century, it evolved into a center for education, community services, and civil rights organizing. 

During the 1960s, the campus served as a gathering place for civil rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who visited multiple times to participate in Southern Christian Leadership Conference retreats. Built in 1931, the two-story Butler Building originally housed Penn School classrooms and later served as the center’s museum. 

Designed with input from students, the building reflects the institution’s longstanding commitment to education and community participation. Today, the structure requires significant preservation work to protect its architectural integrity and ensure its history remains accessible to future generations. The federally funded project will begin with architectural surveys, historical research, and detailed assessments of the building’s condition. 

That work will inform a comprehensive historic structure report and preservation plans before rehabilitation efforts address the building’s structural and exterior components. 

Willkens plans to work with students on architectural documentation, digital mapping, and assessments of the historic structure, connecting technical preservation work with opportunities for hands-on learning. The project also extends beyond the building itself. Through workshops led by preservation professionals, participating students and community members will gain exposure to specialized techniques and skills used to maintain historic structures.

Georgia Tech’s participation in the Butler Building project builds on an established relationship with the Penn Center that connects architectural education with cultural heritage preservation. In spring 2024, the School of Architecture offered a seminar supported by Georgia Tech’s Undergraduate Sustainability Education Innovation initiative. 

That collaboration continued in fall 2024 through a senior studio, giving students opportunities to explore preservation, sustainability, and the relationship between historic places and the communities they serve. 

For the past three years, School of Architecture faculty and students have also participated in the Penn Center Culture & Community Summer Research Residency, working alongside scholars and community partners to examine the site's history and cultural significance. 

In March 2026, Willkens co-led the Penn Center Alternative Spring Break alongside Jennifer Lux of Georgia Tech's Scheller College of Business. Supported by a Georgia Tech Arts Catalyst Grant, the four-day residency brought 15 students, faculty, and staff to St. Helena Island for an immersive experience exploring art, Gullah/Geechee culture, and the relationship between creativity and place. 

The interdisciplinary initiative offered another way for Georgia Tech students to engage with the Penn Center's history beyond the classroom. 

For architecture student Lucas Nagel, the experience reinforced the importance of preserving historic places while allowing them to evolve. “My most significant takeaway from this immersive learning experience is the importance of preservation of place through adaptation of use,” Nagel said. 

Together, these experiences have created a sustained connection between classroom learning and the challenges of preserving culturally significant places. The new National Park Service grant provides another opportunity to translate that work into tangible preservation outcomes.

The Butler Building project brings together expertise from multiple institutions, with the Penn Center serving as project manager and community liaison.

Alongside Willkens, collaborators include Dr. Barbara McCaskill of the University of Georgia, Dr. Alison McCletchie of South Carolina State University, and Dr. Kimberly Cavanagh of the University of South Carolina Beaufort.

Georgia Tech students are expected to contribute to architectural documentation and digital mapping, while students from partner institutions will also help research and organize historical materials, including photographs, newspapers, newsletters, and other archival records.

The interdisciplinary approach connects the physical preservation of the building with the stories, records, and experiences that give it historical meaning.

For architecture students, the project offers a learning experience that extends beyond traditional design exercises. Documenting an existing structure requires close observation, technical analysis, and an understanding of how architectural decisions affect the preservation of cultural heritage.

Students will also have opportunities to learn from preservation tradespeople, gaining insight into the specialized work required to stabilize and rehabilitate historic buildings.

Those experiences support a broader goal of the grant: introducing students and community members to preservation trades while helping address the need for skilled professionals in the field.

The Penn Center is one of 54 projects across 18 states receiving funding through the National Park Service’s 2026 African American Civil Rights Preservation and History Grants program, which awarded a combined $21.8 million to preserve places and stories connected to the struggle for equality.

For Georgia Tech, the Butler Building project demonstrates how architecture can connect research, education, and community engagement with the preservation of places that hold national significance.

As the project moves from documentation and planning toward physical rehabilitation, the School of Architecture’s continued involvement will help students understand that preserving a building involves more than maintaining its physical structure. It also means recognizing the people, experiences, and histories that make a place worth protecting.

At the Penn Center, that work will help ensure that a building created to serve generations of learners can continue educating future generations.