The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources announces the addition of multiple sites across the state to the National Register of Historic Places. The newly recognized sites include a mix of districts, individual properties, and updated documentation, highlighting the state’s rich architectural and historical heritage. They include one boundary increase, two additional documentations, three new historic districts, and five individual properties. They were reviewed by the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee, subsequently nominated by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer, and forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register for consideration for listing in the National Register.
“It’s good news for North Carolina when we add properties to the National Register of Historic Places,” said Secretary Pamela B. Cashwell, N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “Preservation of these treasured places spurs local economic development and showcases the varied history of our state.”
The listing of a property in the National Register places no obligation or restriction on a private owner using private resources to maintain or alter the property. Over the years, various federal and state incentives have been introduced to assist private preservation initiatives, including tax credits for the rehabilitation of National Register properties. As of January 1, 2025, there have been 4,391 completed historic rehabilitation projects with private investments of almost $3.85 billion statewide.
In Central North Carolina
Harriet Tubman YWCA, Durham, Durham County, listed 12/6/2024
The locally significant Harriet Tubman YWCA in Durham, North Carolina, meets National Register of Historic Places Criterion A in the areas of Black ethnic heritage, social history, and civil rights and Criterion C for architecture. Located within the vibrant African American neighborhood known as Hayti, the building was a vital community center during the third quarter of the twentieth century. Many employees, volunteers, and program participants engaged in social and political advocacy in Durham and beyond, employing coordinated civil disobedience and legal action in myriad campaigns against racial, political, economic, and social injustice. The Harriet Tubman YWCA also epitomizes the functional Modernism often manifested in mid-twentieth-century buildings conceived in an economical manner that allowed for rapid construction, flexible use, ease of maintenance, and future expansion. The building is characterized by angular form, horizontal massing, and large metal-frame windows. The period of significance begins in 1953 with the main block’s completion and ends in 1978, when the Harriet Tubman YWCA closed.
John Fisher House, Salisbury (vicinity), Rowan County, listed 12/10/2024
The John Fisher House in rural Rowan County meets Criterion C for listing in the National Register of Historic Places for its local architectural significance. The Greek Revival-style farmhouse of vernacular hall-and-parlor form demonstrates the use of architectural pattern books of the period, especially Asher Benjamin’s popular Practical House Carpenter, to provide consistent decorative treatment on both exterior and interior. Although the John Fisher House is a country dwelling of modest size — only one-and-a-half stories — it is replete with pattern book detailing. Part of its significance lies in its demonstration of the sustained influence and use of architectural pattern books for building country houses, especially in the North Carolina Piedmont, during the mid-nineteenth century. The period of significance for the unusually well-preserved house with its high degree of physical integrity is ca. 1848, the date of construction noted by family tradition that fits within Fisher’s 1842 purchase of the land on which the house stands and the 1850 U. S. census, which provides information strongly suggesting that the house had been built by that time.
Johnson’s Drive-In, Siler City, Chatham County, listed 2/5/2025
The locally significant Johnson’s Drive-In in Siler City, North Carolina, epitomizes the proliferation of roadside quick-service restaurants in conjunction with the mid-twentieth-century development of a motorist-focused service industry along newly developed highway corridors, thus meeting National Register Criterion A for commerce. The restaurant is thought to be the first to offer both curbside and indoor dining on US 64 between Asheboro and Raleigh, a distance of approximately seventy-two miles. The building functioned as a three-dimensional billboard, with its proximity to the road, large plate-glass windows, and brightly lit interior. While the traditional gable-roofed style of the 1946 building resembled a house, the Modernist 1960 addition distinguished the restaurant from competitors and brought an urban commercial aesthetic to the small town. Notably, the establishment was not segregated, an anomaly in the Jim Crow South. All seating and facilities were available to Black and white customers, who used the same entrances. The period of significance is 1946-1975, the approximate date curbside service was discontinued.
Mount Pleasant Historic District (Additional Documentation), Mount Pleasant, Cabarrus County, listed 12/4/2024
The 1986 Mount Pleasant Historic District nomination claimed significance at the local level under Criterion A for commerce and industry as an example of a textile village with a small commercial core, its modest size primarily due to its lack of direct railroad connections. The 1986 nomination also identified significance at the local level under Criterion C for architecture as a collection of residential, religious, commercial, and industrial buildings representing nearly every major style popular during the period of significance, 1840 to 1935. The Additional Documentation serves to extend the period of significance through c.1976 to encompass the continued residential, commercial, and industrial growth within the Mount Pleasant Historic District through the mid-twentieth century. It also includes high integrity examples of these building types from the period 1935-c.1976. The Additional Documentation is locally significant for architecture, commerce, and industry and also serves to supplement context for commerce and industry before 1935, as well as providing context in all areas of significance for the post-1935 period.
Robert and Frances S. Loewenstein House, Greensboro, Guilford County, listed 12/12/2024
The Edward and Frances S. Loewenstein House is significant at the local level under Criterion C for Architecture and Engineering as an outstanding example of Modernist-style architecture in Greensboro. The house is also significant at the local level under Criterion B in the area of Architecture for its association with prominent architect Edward Loewenstein. Designed by Loewenstein as his personal residence, the house exhibits key tenets of Modernist architecture and design innovations engineered by Loewenstein for the building include canted exterior walls, the angle of which was carefully calculated maximize solar gain in winter and minimize direct light in summer and skylights fitted both with shutters to reduce light infiltration and light bulbs to provide diffused light on cloudy days and at night. In 1953, he joined with Robert A. Atkinson, Jr. to form the firm of Loewenstein-Atkinson. As supporters of the Civil Rights movement, the firm hired African American engineers and architects, when segregation was the norm. While Modernist designs were a small percentage of Loewenstein’s residential commissions, they are among the best in the region. Designs also included schools, office buildings, and shopping centers. The Period of Significance is 1954 to 1970.
St. Joseph AME Church (Additional Documentation), Durham, Durham County, listed 1/2/2025
St. Joseph African Methodist Episcopal Church possesses statewide significance under Criterion A for Black ethnic heritage, social history, and civil rights. Located within the African American neighborhood known as Hayti, the building was historically a vital community center as it is today. The construction of the 1891 sanctuary and 1952 education building and parsonage exemplifies the Black community’s resilience, growth, and prosperity. The building served as a forum for mid-20th-century civil rights movement planning and training sessions, meetings, and rallies. The church also possesses local significance under Criterion C as an intact example of Gothic Revival-style late-nineteenth-century ecclesiastical architecture. Designed by Philadelphia architect Samuel L. Leary and built with brick supplied by prominent Black Durham businessman Richard Burton Fitzgerald, the 1891 church is Durham’s second-oldest and the city’s most intact historic African American sanctuary of any denomination. The period of significance begins in 1891 when construction commenced and ends in 1976 when the congregation moved.
South Benbow Road Historic District, Greensboro, Guilford County, listed 12/9/2024
The South Benbow Road Historic District is significant at the local level under Criterion A for Black Ethnic Heritage and Civil Rights as a significant concentration of properties that share historical associations with the advancement of African American Civil Rights in Greensboro. One of a number of early-to-mid-20th century neighborhoods formed in east Greensboro in response to the growth of North Carolina A&T University and Bennett College, both Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), the district was developed as a consequence of, and in response to, systemic and de facto segregation in Greensboro. The district is also significant at the local level under Criterion A for Community Planning and Development. It is comprised of several smaller developments that followed Olmstedian planning principles, which called for curvilinear streets that follow the natural terrain, help slow traffic, and provide varied views as one moves through the area. Significant at the local level under Criterion C for Architecture, it is primarily residential, but also includes a small number of religious and medical buildings. Several homes and churches in the district were designed by prominent African American architects. The period of significance is c. 1946 – c. 1976.
In Eastern North Carolina
Hertford West Historic District, Hertford, Perquimans County, listed 2/11/2025
Settlement in the Hertford West Historic District area began around the turn of the twentieth century, a period of industrial development and population growth sparked by the coming of the railroad to Hertford. Queen Anne houses number among the district’s oldest dwellings. The Woodland Circle development was built in the district in 1944 to provide housing for the nearby naval base in the Minimal-Traditional style. Following WWII, more Minimal-Traditional and later Ranch houses were built in the district. The Hertford West Historic District is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C in the architecture area of significance for the quality and diversity of its historic architecture with representatives of numerous styles popular in the early and middle decades of the twentieth century. The district is also eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A in the Community Planning and Development area of significance as the principal vector of community expansion in Hertford during the twentieth century. Orthogonal streets, an extension of the town’s original grid plan, and curvilinear subdivisions characterize the district. The period of significance extends from 1900-71.
Shelter Neck Historic District, Burgaw (vicinity), Pender County, listed 12/10/2024
Shelter Neck Historic District, containing a chapel, school, and dormitory built in the first decade of the 20th century, is listed in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level of significance under Criterion A in the areas of Education and Social History. The Boston-based National Alliance of Unitarian Women built the church in 1900 as the first Unitarian building constructed in the state. Working side by side, educated urban women and male Unitarian ministers quickly established a school for day and boarding students in which a classical education was bolstered by industrial training that included handcrafts and instruction in agriculture, as well as exposure to the arts. Settlement schools like the one established at Shelter Neck were part of a social reform program inspired by the settlement movement. The period of significance is 1900-26, the year the Alliance of Unitarian Women closed the school. The property meets Criteria Consideration A as its significance stems from its role in educating local children and as a vehicle for social reform in a rural eastern North Carolina county.
In Western North Carolina
Hopkins Chapel AME Zion Church, Asheville, Buncombe County, listed 12/17/2024
Hopkins Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church is locally significant under National Register Criteria A and C as an important African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion congregation in Asheville following the Civil War and an excellent example of Gothic Revival church architecture designed by renowned architect Richard Sharp Smith and built by master brick mason James Vester Miller. Free Black congregants from Asheville’s Central Methodist Church, dissatisfied with their treatment by white members of that church staged a protest march through Asheville and began worshipping independently at a brush arbor in the East End section of town and formally organized in 1868. After steady deterioration of the church’s 1883 second sanctuary, construction of an exquisite new Gothic Revival sanctuary began in 1910 and was completed in 1911. The period of significance for Hopkins Chapel begins in 1910, when construction of the present church building began, and ends in 1974.
Marshall High School (Additional Documentation and Boundary Increase), Marshall, Madison County, listed 1/14/2025
Marshall High School was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008, with a period of significance beginning in 1926 when the school was built, and continuing through 1957, the 50-year cut-off for when the nomination was completed. This Additional Documentation and Boundary Increase extends the period of significance through 1974 when a consolidated Madison County High School building was built and Marshall High School closed. It adds into the boundary the adjacent Marshall High School Gymnasium, completed in 1956 to the west of the school building, and which was not included in the original nomination due to a separate owner objection at the time. The gymnasium is historically related to the school building and the inclusion of the additional building expands upon the school’s educational significance. It is locally significant under Criterion A for its contributions to the educational history of Marshall, North Carolina through the early 1970s. Included within this Additional Documentation and Boundary Increase is an updated description of the high school building, taking into account the renovation work completed under the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards in 2008.
NOTE TO EDITORS — The above images are available in a higher resolution on the Dropbox Site.
About the National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the nation’s official list of buildings, structures, objects, sites, and districts worthy of preservation for their significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture. The National Register was established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 to ensure that as a matter of public policy, properties significant in national, state, and local history are considered in the planning of federal undertakings, and to encourage historic preservation initiatives by state and local governments and the private sector. The Act authorized the establishment of a State Historic Preservation Office in each state and territory to help administer federal historic preservation programs.
In North Carolina, the State Historic Preservation Office is a unit of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Dr. Darin Waters, the Department’s Deputy Secretary of Archives, History, and Parks, is North Carolina’s State Historic Preservation Officer. The North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee, a board of professionals and citizens with expertise in history, architectural history, and archaeology, meets three times a year to advise Dr. Waters on the eligibility of properties for the National Register and the adequacy of nominations.
The National Register nominations for the recently listed properties may be read in their entirety on the NC Listings in the National Register of Historic Places page of the State Historic Preservation Office website. For more information on the National Register, including the criteria for listing, visit the NC State Historic Preservation Office National Register page.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) manages, promotes, and enhances the things that people love about North Carolina – its diverse arts and culture, rich history, and spectacular natural areas. Through its programs, the department enhances education, stimulates economic development, improves public health, expands accessibility, and strengthens community resiliency.
The department manages over 100 locations across the state, including 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, five science museums, four aquariums, 35 state parks, four recreation areas, dozens of state trails and natural areas, the North Carolina Zoo, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, the American Indian Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of State Archaeology, the Highway Historical Markers program, the N.C. Land and Water Fund, and the Natural Heritage Program. For more information, please visit www.dncr.nc.gov.
