Guilford County Courthouse, 301 West Market Street
A series of earlier courthouses stood at Jefferson Square, the early name for the city’s central intersection at Elm and Market streets. By 1911, jurors were having a hard time hearing cases due to street noise on warm summer days when windows remained open, so efforts began on constructing a new courthouse. The old site was sold to make way for the Jefferson Standard Building, and this site was cleared for a $500,000 structure in 1917. The Guilford County Courthouse was designed by a committee of architects chaired by Harry Barton of Greensboro. Barton specialized in residential, educational and civic buildings in Beaux-Arts and Neoclassical styles, including buildings on the campus of the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. The basement and primary floors of the building are walled in Mount Airy Granite, but the upper floors including the cornice and balustrade are sheathed with terra cotta tiles textured to resemble granite. The courthouse stands five stories in height, but appears much smaller; reflective of the County Commissioner’s desire to not be viewed as wasting taxpayer’s money on a large structure. The Commissioners’ Meeting Room located on the second floor features Neoclassical detail articulated in hand-crafted quarter-sawn oak. Open to the public.Style: Beaux-Arts/ Neoclassical Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in May 1979.
Governmental Plaza, 210 South Greene Street
The Guilford County Governmental Complex includes the Guilford County Courthouse Annex and the Greensboro Municipal Building. The complex was constructed between 1968-1972 according to plans by Eduardo Catalano of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1950 Catalano was named professor of architecture at the Architectural Association in London and was then appointed head of the Department of Architecture at the North Carolina State University School of Design, where he taught and practiced for five years. During his tenure at NC State he designed and constructed his revolutionary house that House and Home magazine would later name his home the “House of the Decade”. One of his most important contributions was the famous Juilliard School of Music, one of five buildings forming the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. In 1971, the United States government honored him by selecting him as the architect for a new U.S. Embassy in Argentina, later followed by commission for the embassy in South Africa. Open to the Public.Style: Brutalist
West Market Street Methodist Church, 302 West Market Street
The West Market Street Methodist Church was constructed in 1893 to plans by architect S. W. Foulk of New Castle, Pennsylvania. Theater-plan sanctuary and Akron-plan Sunday School arrangement could accommodate 2,000 worshippers. Sixty-eight stained glass windows were recycled from the German Pavilion at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Richardsonian Romanesque form includes round-arched windows and entry points, a handsome granite base, substantial masonry walls, use of rounded walls and turrets, and a complex hipped roof punctuated by gables. Private.Style: Richardsonian Romanesque. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in December 1985.
U. S. Post Office and Courthouse, 324 West Market Street
The United States Post Office and Courthouse was built between 1931-1933. Its design is attributed to staff architects under acting architect James A. Wetmore. Using materials such as Mount Airy Granite, Indiana Limestone, and aluminum – this building employed the modernist style for the first time in Greensboro. The building was funded through the Public Buildings Act of 1926 and cost approximately $585,000 to build.To the east and west of the entry pavilion are carved, open stone grilles. The grilles consist of a geometric pattern with the letters USA at the top and GNC (Greensboro, North Carolina) at the bottom. Two stone carved plinths rest on stone cheek walls that frame the entrance stairs and project from the building wall immediately below the open stone grilles. The plinths, featuring the lotus motif flanked by the scroll motif on each side, rise eight feet and provide ornamental lighting for the elevation, as each supports five glass and metal lanterns. Between the façade’s pilasters are aluminum spandrels separating second and third floor windows. The spandrels feature the seals of the Treasury Department, the Post Office Department, the Department of Justice, the War Department, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Labor. In 1988, the building was renamed the L. Richardson Preyer Federal Building in honor of Lunsford Richardson Preyer, a former federal Judge, six-term U.S. Congressman and resident of Greensboro. Limited public access.Style: Art Deco/Streamline Moderne. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places October 2014.
Michael Sherwood House, 426 West Friendly Avenue
The Michael Sherwood House stands in downtown Greensboro as one of a very small number of ante-bellum residences in the center city. The house was probably built between 1849 and 1851 for Michael Swaim Sherwood, publisher (1839-1860s) of the Greensborough Patriot. He was a relative of William Swaim, the well-known founding editor of the Patriot newspaper and grandfather of author William Sidney Porter, aka O.Henry. Michael Sherwood’s Greek Revival house was constructed on a five-acre tract of land on the western fringe of the village, The two-story brick structure features closed pediment end-gables, a rectangular transom window, and simple six-over-six windows. The two-tiered Tuscan portico is an early twentieth century addition. Handsomely landscaped with feature trees, the Sherwood House remains a rare surviving touchstone to the antebellum period amidst one of North Carolina’s largest cities. Private.Style: Greek Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in January 1978. Local Landmark Property since February 1983.
David Weir House, 223 North Edgeworth Street
This unusual house stands in downtown Greensboro as one of a very small number of ante-bellum period residences remaining in the city, and reflects the high level of design sought by high income residents of the city during that time. Dr. David Weir was president of Edgeworth Female Academy, a secondary school for women located one block to the south. An architect from Columbus, Ohio named W. S. Andrews advertised in the Greensboro Patriot in 1858 that he was "prepared to furnish plans and drawings for Public Buildings, Villas, Cottages, etc." In his advertisement, he cited as references D. P. Weir. The Weir House is an unusually elaborate and detailed composition, including a double-tiered, full-width front porch and central gable. Paired chamfered posts and delicate sawn bargeboard evoke the Carpenter Gothic style of architecture. The house has been the headquarters for the Greensboro Women’s Club since 1921. In 1961, the first level of the front porch was enclosed, somewhat altering its original appearance. The residence stands among a handsome grove of ancient oaks with a broad front lawn. Private.Style: Carpenter Gothic. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places July 1984. Local Landmark Property since January 1989.
Masonic Temple, 426 West Market Street
The Masons have had a notable influence in the community, claiming members such as hotelier Christopher Moring, industrialist Henry Humphreys, attorney and Mayor Cyrus Mendenhall, businessman Julian Price. The organization set the cornerstone for their Greensboro Masonic Temple on March 20, 1928. Greensboro architect John B. Crawford was hired to provide plans and James Fanning was selected as the project’s General Contractor. The monumental stone façade is evocative of a Grecian temple, complete with fluted engaged columns topped by curled Ionic capitals, a Greek-key stylobate, a triangular pediment topped by an anthemion (Greek term for “flower”). Upon the entablature is inscribed EIS DOXAN THEOU "To the glory of God." Behind the impressive public façade is a highly ceremonial interior laden with symbolism and ritual. Above the meeting chamber is the Scottish Rite Room, a palatial space flanked by theater-style seats and centered upon an elaborate stage. The polychromatic room takes an Egyptian theme, with sphinxes guarding the stage, and high columns topped by papyrus capitals. Private.Style: Neoclassical.
Blandwood Mansion, 447 West Washington Street
Blandwood is one of the America's great historic homes, representing the ideals of progressive North Carolina Governor John Motley Morehead as illustrated through a protype for one of America's most popular architectural styles in the nineteenth century.Constructed by Charles Bland on the crest of a hill on his wooded farm, the earliest portions of the Blandwood were completed in 1795. The simple two-story farmhouse was later purchased by Morehead, and subsequently expanded according to plans drawn by nationally renowned architect Alexander Jackson Davis of New York. Davis designed additions in the Italianate style villa that featured a central tower, stucco walls, and symmetrical flanking dependencies. Completed in 1846, it is considered the oldest standing example of Italianate architecture in the United States.Today, Blandwood operates as a museum, and provides visitors with a remarkably complete ensemble of 19th century art, architecture, furnishings, and landscape. It is the only building in Guilford County recognized by the United States Secretary of the Interior as a National Historic Landmark. Open to the public.Style: Federal and Italianate. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and received the distinction of being named a National Historic Landmark in 1988.
Carolina Theatre, 310 South Greene Street
The Carolina Theatre was erected in 1927 as the flagship theatre in the Carolinas of the Publix-Saenger Theater Corporation. Architects J. H. de Sibour of Washington DC, and James B. Workman of Greensboro are credited with the project. Jules Henri de Sibour was a native of France and came to America as a boy. After attending Yale University and studying in Paris, he began work as an architect in New York City in 1902. De Sibour moved to Washington DC in 1909 and grew to become one of that city’s most prolific architects. His works include a number of residences in Washington that currently serve as Embassies and offices. The Carolina Theatre was celebrated upon completion as only the second building in America (after the Philadelphia Art Museum) to reflect the authentic polychromatic theme of Greek architecture. As a flagship theatre in the Publix-Saenger Theater chain, interior appointments are sumptuous, including stairs of travertine marble and ornamental bronze rails, walls of sandstone, a crystal chandelier, and a mural by Herman Hirschauer. The building was saved from destruction for a parking lot in 1975, and restored in 1981 after a fire. It was upgraded as a perfomiing arts center in 1989-1993. Open to the public.Style: Neoclassical Revival (Greek). Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1982.
J. W. Scott Building, 113-115 West Washington Street
This building is a well-preserved example of a once common commercial building type erected in the center city and demonstrates a growing appetite for nationally popular architectural styles in the city at the turn of the twentieth century. The three-story brick building occupies the site of Cyrus P. Mendenhall’s imposing residence “The Elms,” and was erected in 1902 when the house was reconstructed to 205 West Washington Street (and then reconstructed in Fisher Park). The J. W. Scott and Company wholesale grocery operated in this location until 1970. Attributed to Greensboro-based architect Orlo Epps, the building features segmental arched windows with springer stones, stone sill and lintel courses, and a modillion cornice. A central pavilion features a central gable above a fanlight. The building was restored around 1990 when it was adaptively reused as office space. Private.Style: Neoclassical. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980. Local Landmark Property since February 1992.
The Cone Export and Commission Company Building, 111 West Washington Street
This building is one of two well-preserved structures that demonstrate a commercial brick façade type that was once common to Greensboro’s city center. The building was announced in the November 20, 1901 Greensboro Patriot newspaper in a report that stated “Two substantial business houses will shortly be erected on West Washington street…The Cone Export and Commission Company will erect a handsome office building, which will be a modern structure in every particular. J. W. Scott & Co. have purchased the adjoining lot on the west, upon which they will erect a three-story building to accommodate their large and constantly increasing wholesale business.”The facade is an elegant composition of Neoclassical feature including the elliptical fanlights that grace third-floor windows. Other Neoclassical elements include keystones, belt courses, and a wooden modillion cornice. The Cone Export and Commission Company was established in 1890 when Greensboro-based industrialist Moses Cone convinced other southern textile manufactures that collective marketing could increase profits. The company expanded in the twentieth century, resulting in the construction of a new building in 1924, The company remained at this new location at 330 South Greene Street until moving to New York City in 1941. The structure was converted to residential use as the Greenwich Apartments in 1931, and as a boutique hotel in the late 1960s. It took the Biltmore name in 1992 after additional renovations. Private.Style: Neoclassical. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980.
Cascade Saloon, 408-410 South Elm Street
The Cascade Saloon was constructed in 1895 on South Elm Street between the North Carolina Railroad tracks to the north, and a spur of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railway to the south. This unusual location between two rail lines resulted in the structure having no adjacent buildings and a stand-alone setting for a high-profile presence along Greensboro’s main business street. Although the architect of the building is unknown, it is clearly part of a family of Elm Street buildings designed by the same hand. Shared characterizes of these buildings include Mount Airy Granite window sills and lintels, use of patterned brickwork, and elaborate cornices.The structure originally had twin storefronts, the northernmost addressed as 408 South Elm Street and the southernmost as 410. The earliest records of the building in 1897 include grocer George. T. McLamb in 408, and saloon owner Samuel J. McCauley in unit 410. By 1907, two new businesses moved into the building, including Wiley Weaver’s “eating house” or café, in the space at 408. Weaver and his wife Ida were African-American, and the couple had just been married in 1903. They operated the café at a time when Jim Crow Laws sought to segregate African-Americans away from white-owned businesses. The fact that the Weavers ran their business on Greensboro’s main commercial street is an unusual footnote in Greensboro’s history. By 1913, the café was recognized under the name “The Cascade Saloon,” and offered one of only five billiard parlors in the city. The building remained derelict for 40 years until the efforts of Preservation Greensboro sought to restore the building for new uses. Private.Style: Greensboro Vernacular. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980. Local Landmark Property since December 2007.
Old Southern Railway Passenger Depot, 400 South Elm Street
In July, 1898, the firm D. Getaz & Company of Knoxville, TN was awarded the contract to build a new depot for the Southern Railway. The building is constructed of a brick provided by the Washington Hydrolic Pressed Brick Company of Alexandria VA, with granite trim. The building spans 160 feet along the North Carolina Railroad-owned, Norflok Southern-leased trackage that connects Washington DC and points north to Atlanta and points south. The structure once sported a spectacular roofilne of clay tile with protruding dormer windows and a conical tower. The building was modernized with a flat roof after the passenger depot was moved to East Washington Street in 1927, and has since been used as offices for Norfolk Southern Railroad.Style: Originally Chateauesque. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980 as part of the Downtown Greensboro Historic District.
Thomas Bailey Store House, 358 South Elm Street
One of the oldest structures on South Elm Street is this three-story brick building built by confectioner Thomas Bailey in the summer of 1888. Bailey's earlier store was wood frame, and it was lost in a major fire on June 17, 1888. The fire was so intense that ii led to a new ordinance stating "if any person shall erect a building other than brick, stone, or metal with stone roof on Elm Street, he shall be convicted by the Mayor and fined the sum of $50." From that point on, no wood structures were constructed along Elm Street, and the city's early fire code was established.The current building was erected in the weeks after the fire by contractor and brick mason David Kirkpatrick. Completed by October that same year, the double store was described as a "handsome, durable edifice, three stories high with dimensions of 70x37 feet." In the 1890s, the upper floors of the building were operated as the Piedmont Hotel, a quasi-permanent residence for African-American men and women. By the twentieth century, the building was owned by the Blumenthal family, under who's name the structure is associated today.Style: Greensboro Vernacular. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980 as a contributing structure within the Downtown Greensboro Historic District.
J. W. Jones Building, 345-347 South Elm Street
J. W. Jones began construction of his new brick store on July 1, 1895. Jones ran a wholesale grocery store that supplied patrons with “the choicest in all varieties of general groceries and table delicacies, imported or domestic” as well as special stock such as imported “coffees, cigars, and tobaccos.” The Jones grocery was located in the northernmost (left) shopfront. To the south (right) was Ralph P. Gorrell’s Saloon.The façade of the building features red brick that is contrasted with pale-granite bands that form window sills and window lintels. This use of granite is common to several buildings in Greensboro, and could be the hand of English-born architect and building Thomas Woodroffe. Decorative brick patterns create shadow lines that enliven the façade. Above the round attic vents is a handsome Neoclassical pressed metal cornice that replaced an elaborate Victorian-era cornice sometime around 1920.Style: Greensboro Vernacular. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980. Local Landmark Property since July 2009. Greensboro Preservation Award 2004.
Odell Hardware Company Office and Warehouse, 235-327 South Elm Street
The Odell Hardware Company was founded on South Elm Street in Greensboro by Julian Odell in 1872 as a dry goods supplier. Reorganized through a sale in 1885 as a wholesale hardware business, the company grew to be one of the southeast’s largest independent hardware wholesale companies.The Odell complex was constructed in several different phases. The earliest dates as early as the 1880s as a modest two-story brick building. In 1890, the Greensboro North State newspaper reported: The Odell Hardware Company are about to make a great improvement. Their business has attained such proportions and is daily increasing to such an extent that they are compelled to enlarge their present quarters. They will add another story to their present commodious building, increase the depth of the store sixty feet, making it 140 feet, and put in a new front which will be of iron and of the most beautiful design and architecture. The building will be four stories including the basement. This will be the first iron front ever erected in Greensboro.” This expanded façade is likely what was reconstructed in 1985 as the Odell Hardware Building.In 1901, the narrow three-story brick office located just north of the imposing showroom was erected. Taking cues from Renaissance Revival architecture, the façade incorporates arched windows, molded brickwork, Louis Sullivanesque-terra cotta spandrel panels, and banded pilasters topped with Ionic capitals. The building is thought to have been designed by J. H. Hopkins, among the first professionally trained architects to practice in Greensboro. Warehouses were constructed for the company in 1897. The entire complex was destroyed by a massive fire on April 13, 1985, and are reconstructed elements using the original facades.The Odell Hardware Company office building is an important in recalling a prosperous era in Greensboro’s history in which nationally popular architectural styles and professionally trained architects began to make a major impact on the appearance of the city’s main commercial thoroughfare. Private.Style: Neoclassical Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980. Local Landmark Property since April 1992.
Greensboro Loan & Trust Banking House, 319 South Elm Street
Towering over South Elm Street in Greensboro, the Greensboro Loan and Trust Banking House is an excellent example of Renaissance Revival architecture by Charlotte architects Hook and Sawyer. Begun in the summer of 1900, it is one of the earliest high-styled commercial facades in the city and represents an influence of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 that promoted the use of Classical Revival architecture for monumental civic structures. This building evokes Renaissance period designs of Italy with its classical ornament, including banded brickwork with raised joints, broken pediments of stone above windows, along with wreathed windows and a heavy acanthus leaf modillion cornice. The design attracted attention in Greensboro when it was announced "the front will be of granite and white brick of special design, different from anything in the city."The firm of Hook and Sawyer was formed by architect C. C. Hook and and New Yorker Frank McMurray Sawyer. It operated from 1898 to 1905 and completed over 100 projects. Greensboro Loan and Trust Company was chartered in 1899 with Captain J. W. Frye, the former general manager of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad as its president. Within five years of its founding, the institution held the fifth highest deposits and assets in the state. Private.Style: Neoclassical Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980. Local Landmark Property since April 1992.
Wharton Block, 318 – 320 South Elm Street
After a major fire here in the summer of 1885, citizens and business owners sought to reconstruct this portion of Elm Street with substantial and fire-resistant commercial blocks. John W. Wharton and William O. Stratford, proprietors of Wharton & Stratford, a general merchandiser offering farm implements, builder’ materials, fertilizers, metal roofers, and tobacco flues, announced intentions to construct a “fine brick store” at 318-320 South Elm Street in September of that year.By October, the Greensboro North State newspaper crowed “Messrs. Wharton & Stratford are rapidly preparing to commence the erection of their new building on South Elm street. The building will be 92 feet front, three stories high, and when completed will be another ornament to our city.” In addition to Wharton & Stratford, other occupants included W. A. Horney Watchmaker, Jeweler and Optician.The structure still maintains its original appearance, including brick corbelling at the cornice-line, hooded window brows, and simple wood window sills. The structure at 318 is remarkably well-preserved with early painted signage that remains legible.Style: Greensboro Vernacular. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1980 as a contributing structure within the Downtown Greensboro Historic District.
Weill Block, 314-316 South Elm Street
Mrs. Sol. Weill purchased the site of 314 South Elm Street in July of 1898 with the intention of building a sizeable structure to house the Simpson-Shields Shoe Company. The English-born contractor and stonemason Thomas Woodroffe worked on an aggressive schedule to complete the building by December 1st of that year. Three months later, she acquired the lot at 316 South Elm Street, and began planning a larger building.In October 1898, the Greensboro Telegram reported "Mrs. Sol. Weill has decided upon the plan of the building she will erect by the side of the one being built for the Simpson-Shields Shoe Co., and it will be a credit to the city. It will be the largest business house in Greensboro being 150 feet long by 31 ½ feet wide and five stories high, with a cellar in the rear, making this part six stories. The building has already been leased for a term of five years to the Merchants’ Grocery Company who will move into it as soon as completed. This building is to be fifty feet longer and six feet wider than the Simpson Shields Shoe Company’s, though otherwise the plans of each building will be the same. The front of both will be entirely of granite cut in different shapes making a lovely front. The Merchants’ Grocery Co., and the Simpson-Shields Shoe Co. are two of the largest and busiest wholesale houses and have come to stay and grow. The congratulate both of them together with Mrs. Weill."Mrs. Weill was Ella Fishblate Weill, daughter of Solomon H. Fishblate, Mayor of Wilmington, NC. Ella married Solomon Cohen Weill of Wilimgton in 1887. Sol. Weill was a notable figure, graduating from UNC in 1885 and moving to New York City in 1896 where he was elected to the state legislature there as one of the Tammany candidates. Only 34 years old, Weill died on April 28th, 1898. His widow moved to Greensboro to be with her family, and it was in the Gate City that she embarked on her real estate ventures. Later occupants included Scott Seed Company, and recently Miller Furniture.Style: Renaissance Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April1980 as part of the Downtown Greensboro Historic District.
The Methodist Publishing House, 304 South Elm Street
On August 4, 1897, the Greensboro Telegram announced "The front of the new Methodist publishing house on South Elm will be of white fire brick and gray granite. This will present a very pleasing appearance and will give relief to the dead monotony of the ordinary brick block. It is a step in the right direction. When a city is building is the time for attention to be directed to beauty in effect as well as mere utility." Construction progressed through the month as granite sills and iron columns were set into place. By fall, the building was complete, but the publishing company reduced its presence as commercial demands imvited J. H. West to open an ice cream parlor in the storefront by the next year. The building was constructed by William Carter Bain, who maintained offices on the upper floors. The architect for the building is thought to be J. H. Hopkins, who was among the first to bring Neoclassical Revival themes to Greensboro.The building is part of the Downtown Greensboro National Register Historic District, designated in 1980.Greensboro Preservation Award 2014.
Price Building, 300-302 South Elm Street
If you want to see one of the prettiest Store-rooms in the city, jam-up with a large and full line of Dry Goods, Notions, Hats, Gents Furnishings, Boots, Shoes, and everything in the Dry Goods line, why all you’ve got to do is to come to see is in the Price Building, 302 South Elm street. We are one for business, and promise to sell goods right FOR CASH. A. A. Hinkle. Proprietor.This advertisement for the Big 4 Cash Store ran in the Greensboro Patriot in December 1895. The store was one of the first two businesses to occupy the Price building when it opened in 1895. The space on the corner at 300 was first occupied by Moore & McKenzie, a clothier whose motto was “We are all the time finding excuses to sell things cheap.” The space was later taken by Chisholm, Stroud, Crawford & Rees.The Price Building was built on land occupied for most of the nineteenth century by Mayor Cyrus P. Mendenhall’s home “the Elms,” a Greek Revival composition that remains in spirit through the façade of a house in Fisher Park. The Price Building was among the finest in the city when constructed. Its red brick walls are contrasted with pale granite window sill and lintels, and the façade initially featured an elaborate pressed metal cornice. Though nearly all original detail has been stripped from the building, a ghost sign remains on the side promoting long-gone former tenant Silver’s Dry Goods.Style: Greensboro Vernacular. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1980 as a contributing structure within the Downtown Greensboro Historic District.
Greensboro Southern Railway Station, 300 East Washington Street
The Greensboro Passenger Station was built in 1927 to plans provided by New York architects Alfred Fellheimer & Steward Wagner. Fellheimer is most associated with his lead architect role for New York Grand Central Terminal and Cincinnati Union Terminal.At the time of construction, Greensboro had outgrown the smaller station on Elm Street and as a regional rail hub (hence the city’s nickname “The Gate City”) it was richly rewarded with construction of the grandest railroad station in North Carolina. The Beaux-Arts facade features Ionic columns and a full entablature that front a two-story arched entry. Inside, the waiting room showcases a mural depicting the service area of the Southern Railway system in the 1920s. The station was returned to passenger rail service in 2004 after a 20-year hiatus. Today it handles one of the highest passenger counts in North Carolina through eight passenger trains a day with service to New York and New Orleans. Open to the public.Style: Beaux-Arts. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1982. Greensboro Preservation Award 2003.
Brown Flats, 195-201 Lyndon Street
This series of townhouses is rare in Greensboro, where the urban prototype did not gain popularity before apartment houses with shared interior common halls grew acceptable. The four units remain among the few such townhouses in the state.The structures were likely built by Brown Real Estate Company, which had offices at 109 East Market Street. The firm was operated by Sample S. Brown, who was involved in several large transactions that transformed the city in the first decade of the twentieth century. At first, the flats were rented to white collar workers such as George Phoenix, clerk for the Southern railroad; rates in 1907 were $15 per unit.In 1919, the flats were acquired by Dr. Daniel Cato Suggs. Dr. Suggs was considered one of the wealthiest black men in North Carolina, and possibly the South. A native of Wilson, he graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania (B. A. and A. M.) and Morris Brown University (PhD) before beginning his career as a professor in the public school systems of Kinston and Asheville. He married Mary Nocho of Greensboro, daughter of educator Jacob Nocho, in 1902. In 1917 he was elected the President of Livingston College in Salisbury. He maintained his residence in the city until his death.Style: Neoclassical Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in February 1992. Greensboro Preservation Award 2005.
Carolina Cadillac Company Building, 304 East Market Street
The 1922 Carolina Cadillac Company Building is an automobile showroom with service designed by Greensboro architect Harry J. Simmonds. The two-story brick building blends Commercial and Mission Revival styles by combining four flat columns embellished with diamond-shaped panels originally inset with terra cotta with a pediment and copper tiled pent roof. Other original features include plate-glass windows and Luxfer glass transoms, multi-paned, casement windows at the second level of the façade, and a decorative, metal awning over the entrance.The building was erected by the Latham Company, who hired Architect Simmonds to design the Carolina Cadillac Company Building and the adjacent Studebaker dealership building on adjoining lots facing East Market Street. The area of Greensboro east of the downtown soon became known as auto row with the later additions of Buick, Chrysler-Plymouth, and Chevrolet dealerships.Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in August 2014.
Vernon Building, 236-238 South Elm Street
Announced in the May 31, 1883 Greensboro North State, this building was part of a trio of similar buildings known as the "Commercial Block" when constructed by three investors. As reported in the newspaper article, "The new block of buildings now in course of erection on the west side of south Elm street, will be a valuable ornament to the city. The celerity with which the work is being pushed reflects great credit upon Mr. J. A. Lambert under whose supervision it is being carried out. It seems to have been commenced under the rule of three, which proves “that is one mean takes ten days to do a piece of work, ten men could do the work in one day.” The projectors and owners of the property are Mess. G. W. Armfield, W. E. Bevill and Isaac Thacker."The southernmost element of the trio was destroyed in the 1960s in order to widen West Washington Street. The northernmost component has been heavily remodeled for use as the Montgomery Ward Department Store, and now is occupied by Triad State and the Pearl Theatre.The central structure of the three remains most preserved. Known as the Vernon Building, it stands as the earliest documented building remaining in the Old Greensborough Historic District. Its architect was Will Armfield of Greensboro. Interestingly, the building’s second owner, R. L. and Virginia Vernon of Charlotte, provided the building’s present name by placing their surname in the entablature after reconstruction due to a disastrous fire in February 1900. The building found itself on a corner location at Washington and South Elm Street in the 1960s after its southern neighbor was demolished. In 1996 the building was restored, and its southern party wall reconstructed to conform to its new role as a corner building. Private.Style: Italianate. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980. Local Landmark Property since March 1997.
S. H. Kress Building, 212 South Elm Street
The Kress Building was built in 1930 according to elaborate designs by architect Edward Sibbert. The Kress chain of five-and-dimes held a reputation for significant architectural compositions. The company’s founder, Samuel H. Kress, envisioned his stores as works of public art that would contribute to the cityscape. Architect Sibbert was a graduate of Cornell University, and this Greensboro store design was the first under his employment as the corporate architect for the Kress Company. The builder was G. A. Miller of Tampa, who stated in the local paper “Of the new Kress Greensboro store it may be sincerely said that there is no finer building of its kind in the world. It is a distinct addition to the business center of the city and a store of which Greensboro may be proud.” The facade of this nationally celebrated building includes polychrome terra cotta tile featuring floral, fern, and animal motifs supplied by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company of New York. The basement and first floor were used as sales space. The second floor contained offices and a lunch room. Third and fourth floors were used as storage. The building was restored in 2001, and the terra cotta was restored by Van Der Staak Restorations of Seagrove, NC. Private.Style: Art Deco. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1982. Local Landmark Property since December 2008.
The Ellis-Stone Department Store, 207 South Elm Street
Today it is known as the Elm Street Center, but when it was constructed in 1949, this early example of Moderism was the new Ellis-Stone Department Store. This sleek building was far ahead of its time, with its clean lines and a play between solids and voids, the structure looks much as it did when completed. The building was designed by the New York City architectural firm Voorhees, Walker Foley, and Smith. At the time this project was under development, the firm’s partner Ralph Walker was president of the American Institute of Architects. Voorhees Walker designed other notable buildings including the New York Telephone Company, aka the Barclay-Vesey Building and the Irving Trust Building, now One Wall Street, both in lower Manhattan. In 1957, on the occasion of the AIA's 100th anniversary, the organization awarded Walker with the Centennial Medal, an award created specifically for him. He was dubbed Architect of the Century by the New York Times. This structure is a rare example of the firm’s work in the South.Style: Modern. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2004 as a contributing structure within the Amended Downtown Greensboro Historic District. Greensboro Preservation Award 2003.
The Huffines Building, 201 South Elm Street
This three-story Victorian delight with a tower still stands at the corner of East February One Place and South Elm Street, though it has been dramatically remuddled with it’s tower removed and false siding covering the façade. The site of the building was first referenced on August 14, 1901, when the Greensboro Patriot newspaper announced that "It is understood that Dr. D. W. C. Benbow has bargained to sell the lot on the corner of South Elm and East Sycamore streets, west of the PATRIOT’S new home, to Mr. D. R. Huffines for the biggest price per square foot, ever paid for a piece of property in Greensboro. It is reported that the price is about $10,000." A November article followed stating that Mr. G. A. Miller had been granted permission to operate a saloon on the street-level. By January 1902, the newspaper described the progress of the building, stating “the second floor of the new Huffines building, corner of South Elm and Sycamore streets, is about all ready for occupancy. R. M. Albright, the local agent of Murphy & Co., the New York brokers, R. P. Walters, the insurance agent, and others will have offices there. The third floor of the building will be used as a lodge room.”The towered building was the only example of its kind in Greensboro. No other turreted commercial buildings are known to have existed. It is likely the storefront was remodeled in the 1930s when exuberant Queen Anne architecture was seen as eccentric and dysfunctional. Today, the façade provides no hint of it’s exuberant original composition.Style: Remodelled. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in May 2004 as a contributing structure within the Amended Downtown Greensboro Historic District.
The Dixie Fire and Insurance Company Building, 125 South Elm Street
Designed by architect Frank A. Weston in 1904, the Dixie Building illustrates Greensboro’s maturity from a town of low-rise commercial buildings to a city with multi-story office blocks. Guilford County’s first skyscraper, the classically inspired Dixie Building was erected as the home of the Dixie Fire Insurance Company, a corporation that was a leader in its field in North Carolina by the 1910s. Architect Weston used popular Renaissance Revival details to embellish this tower, the tallest in the city when completed. The rusticated Mt. Airy Granite base of arched openings is topped by a fanciful array of features such as sets of paired windows, polygonal bay windows, arched windows, terra cotta ornament and a massive dentil cornice. The Dixie Building stands today as one of North Carolina’s best examples of early skyscraper development and presaged later exemplary skyscrapers such as the American Exchange National Bank and the Jefferson Standard Building, both one block north. The top floor was added around 1915. Private.Style: Renaissance Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980.Local Landmark Property since May 1995.
F. W. Woolworth Co. Building/ International Civil Rights Center & Museum, 132 South Elm Street
Constructed in 1929, this structure was built speculatively and later became the city branch of the national five-and-dime retailer F.W. Woolworth Co. Architect Charles C. Hartmann (Jefferson Standard Building) combined classical Greek elements with Art Deco motifs including bronze urns and acroteria,. The majority of the façade is of Indiana Limestone articulated in highly stylized forms including fluted pilasters, frieze panels, medallions, and draping. In 1960, the site was the scene of the Sit-in Movement to dismantle Jim Crow Era laws against African American citizens. In recognition of that historic occasion, this internationally distinguished site has been extensively reprogrammed for use as the International Civil Rights Center & Museum. Open to the public.Photo Credit: Carol W. Martin/Greensboro History Museum CollectionThis image is part of the Greensboro History Museum collections, and the copyright is owned by the family of the photographer.Style: Neoclassical/ Art Deco. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1982. Local Landmark Property since November 2010. Greensboro Preservation Award 2011.
Porter Drug Store/Hobbs-Mendenhall Building, 121 South Elm Street
Greensboro’s Porter’s Drug Store is celebrated for its strong associations with short-story writer William Sidney Porter who wrote under the pen name O.Henry during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Porter worked here as a boy, from 1876 till 1881 under the direction of his uncle and storeowner W. C. Porter. In his uncle's pharmacy, he became a licensed pharmacist and was also known for his sketches and cartoons of the townspeople of Greensboro. At the age of twenty, Porter moved to Texas and worked on a sheep ranch where he gained knowledge for western life that was described in many of his short stories. Later in his life, after losing his wife and spending time in prison, he moved to New York City, where he published over 300 stories, including “The Gift of the Magi,” and “The Furnished Room.”In 1890, W. C. Porter sold the store to Lunsford Richardson and John Farris. During their tenancy, Lunsford Richardson developed and patented Vicks VapoRub in 1894, a successful cold remedy. Architectural and historical evidence suggests that the two-story building was erected in the 1860s, but a fire in the 1920s necessitated reconstruction of the storefront incorporating a terra cotta arch and wrought iron trim. The building was restored for office use in 1987, when a mid-twentieth century aluminum and glass facade was removed. Private.Style: Italian Renaissance. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980. Local Landmark Property since December 1987.
Jefferson Standard Building, 101 North Elm Street
Julian Price, the president of Jefferson Standard Life Insurance Company, was a patron of architecture. In 1919, New York architect Charles Hartmann came to Greensboro to design a Foor and Robinson branded accommodation named the O.Henry Hotel on North Elm Street. Price met Hartmann and offered him the job of designing a major project – the corporate tower for Jefferson Standard Insurance, if he’d move to Greensboro and open a practice. Hartmann accepted the offer and spent the rest of his life in Greensboro designing notable buildings throughout North Carolina.Price sought to build the corporate tower for Jefferson Standard as the highest building between Washington and Atlanta because he recognized the manner in which the public sought “to identify their financial institutions with impressive buildings that inspire confidence.” Pragmatically, he wanted all employees of his growing company in one building instead of being scattered in a half a dozen buildings across the city. The skyscraper cost $2.5 million, plus $177,000 for the land on which the former county courthouses once stood, both paid in cash. Upon completion, the insurance company occupied only five floors in the tower the rest was leased to doctors, dentists, lawyers, insurance agents, various clubs, and contractors. The eclectic architectural theme of the tower leans on Beaux-Arts design, but blends Baroque details such as rounded arches and Solomonic columns. Private.Style: Beaux-Arts. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in May 1976. Greensboro Preservation Award 2011.
American Exchange National Bank Building (Southeastern Building), 100 North Elm Street
Known today as the Southeastern Building (originally built as the American Exchange National Bank Building), this classically detailed skyscraper was constructed in 1920 to plans provided by Greensboro-architect Raleigh James Hughes. The building is notable for its detailing and materials, including Indiana limestone sheathing and full expressions of classical architecture including entablatures, cornices, dentils, and with Tuscan pilasters. The structure initially held bank offices including a bank lobby on the ground floor, with various offices in upper floors. In 1950, the main floor was remodeled with a Streamline Moderne theme, but the original details of the street façade were returned through a National Park Service Certified Restoration in 2015. The mixed-use restoration brought commercial uses to the street-level, with office and residential uses above. Private.Style: Neoclassical Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1982. Pending Local Landmark Property in 2015. Greensboro Preservation Award 2015, Preservation North Carolina Caraway Award 2016.
Younts-DeBoe Building, 106-108 North Elm Street
Located on North Elm Street, just north of downtown Greensboro’s Jefferson Square, the Younts-DeBoe Building was constructed in 1923 during a period of prosperity and growth in the Gate City. Younts-DeBoe Clothing was formed by M. S. Younts and George Herman DeBoe as a men’s clothing store. Exuberant features of this Beaux-Arts commercial building include a façade of polished granite and a noteworthy ensemble of glazed white terra cotta tile that include elements such as tracery, dentil cornices, floral window and door surrounds, medallions and stylized sunflowers. Inside, a terrazzo entry area is emblazoned with the brass initials of the business. The two-story building provides North Elm Street with a classical façade that reflects materials and design often utilized for costlier office towers built north and south of the site. Private.Style: Beaux Arts. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in June 1982. Local Landmark Property since April 1983.
First Union National Bank, 122 North Elm Street
The new city and regional operations offices for Charlotte-based First Union National Bank opened in this 10-story building on February 18, 1971. Among the striking features of the bank lobby were two wall rugs by V’Soske of San Juan, Puerto Rico, a well-known rug manufacturer. The architect for the building was Leif Valand of Raleigh and Daniel Construction was the general contractor for the $2.5 million building. The exposed aggregate sheathing, articulated concrete frame and structure, and deeply recessed windows make this building a late example of Brutalist architecture.Leif Valand (1915-1985) was a prominent Raleigh architect from the late 1940s to the 1970s. He was born in Norway and immigrated to New York as a boy. Valand attended the Pratt Institute and practiced architecture in Scarsdale, before moving to Raleigh in the late 1940s to work on the Cameron Village Shopping Center. In his prime, Valand was among the most prolific architect in Raleigh. His works includes the Cameron Village Office Buildings and Apartments, Enloe High School, a Federal Building on New Bern Ave, North Hills Shopping Center, the Velvet Cloak Hotel, the Central Raleigh YMCA, and many private residences. Taking on partner Nelson Benzing in 1969, Valand, Benzing was the architect for both Holly Hill and Four Seasons malls. The office tower is now operated as the Self Help Center.
Greensboro Historical Museum, 200 Church Street
Initially built as the campus for the First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, this complex of buildings includes the original sanctuary and the adjacent Smith Memorial Building. The complex grew in stages. The sanctuary for the Presbyterian church was built in 1892 as a Romanesque Revival style cruciform-plan designed by Brooklyn, NY-based architect L. B. Valk and Sons. Later, the semi-circular Smith Memorial Building was built in 1903. It features an octagonal plan by Charlotte architect Charles Christian Hook. The church and memorial building were modified and connected in 1938 with a structure designed by Greensboro-based architect William Holleyman. To the southeast of the property is the First Presbyterian Church burial ground, established in 1812. The church vacated the property in 1929, and in 1937 it was acquired by Mrs. Lunsford Richardson, who donated the site to the City of Greensboro and paid for renovations to adaptively reuse the complex as the Richardson Civic Center. It subsequently housed the Greensboro Public Library, the Greensboro Historical Museum, and the Greensboro Art Center. The historic building functions as one part of the current, larger Greensboro Historical Museum campus. To the east of the museum are two log buildings that were reconstructed to depict early piedmont housing. The Greensboro Historical Museum, founded in 1924, is the second oldest local historical museum in North Carolina. Open to the Public.Style: Richardsonian Romanesque. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places in April 1985. Greensboro Preservation Award 2011.
The Flatiron, 201 Summit Avenue
Built in the acute angle created by the insertion of Summit Avenue into the intersection of Lindsay Street and Church Court (old Church Street), the building is part of a family of triangular building found in most cities that takes its name from the triangular-shaped flat-iron.The structure was constructed for investor A. W. Kaplan in 1922 as a four-unit apartment building. It was designed by Charles Hartmann, an architect newly arrived in Greensboro from New York, hence the Flatiron's "Gotham" vibe. The firm Myers, Jones, and Well served as the project’s contractors, and delivered the completed building to Kaplan for $30,000 in just eight months!Upon completion, it was described as “the most complete and modern Apartment House yet erected in the city”. A description follows, stating “Built on a lot of the “flat-iron” shape the apartment house is unique in design and presents a beautiful exterior view. There are four separate and distinctive apartments in the building, each apartment having its own entrance and the skill of the architect is shown in the arrangement so that each apartment is in fact an entirely separate home.”The building enjoyed a restoration in the summer of 2016, assuring it will remain a part of our center city streetscape for years to come.
St. Benedict’s Catholic Church, 435 North Elm Street
The first Catholic Church in Greensboro was established with St. Agnes church on Forbis Street in 1876. By the 1890s, the small sanctuary no longer met the needs of the city’s growing Catholic community. By September 1899, finishing touches were being made to a replacement for St. Agnes, known as St. Benedict’s. The new building was dedicated on October 30, 1899 by Bishop Leo Haid of Charlotte to a full house of 400 attendees. St. Benedict’s was a grand wooden Carpenter Gothic structure that stood amid a neighborhood of impressive Queen Anne-style residences along North Elm Street.By the 1910s, the neighborhood was changing as a city trolley line was established along Elm Street and single family homes gave way to apartment houses and shops. In September 1918, the façade was reconstituted with stone foundations and a brick veneer. The original tower was lowered, and the structure was given a masonry appearance to blend with the surrounding urban landscape. The new façade incorporated crenelated rooflines, pointed arches, and stone-capped buttresses. The current rendition of the Gothic Revival façade remains well-preserved today, in spite of alterations to the stairs made as North Elm Street has been widened. St. Benedict’s remains the Mother Church of Greensboro’s Catholic community.
Central Fire Station, 318 North Greene Street
Greensboro’s Central Fire Station was built as part of a civic complex that included a training facility, jail, and city hall. The fire station is the only remaining component, preserved as part of a massive redevelopment of the block in the 1980s in a new role as a restaurant. It was designed by Greensboro-based architect Charles C. Hartmann and built in 1925-1926. The two-story Italian Renaissance-style façade is composed of red brick building with carved granite ornamentation. It is nine bays wide and has a six bay wide stepped and projecting pavilion with low arches and robust granite pilasters. The building once had a six-story tower for drying hose that was removed in the early-1950s. Private.Style: Renaissance Revival. Listed to the National Register of Historic Places April 1980.
Central Public Library, 201 North Greene Street
The Elon Law School (originally Greensboro Public Library) was completed in 1960 to designs by Greensboro-based architect Edward Loewenstein in partnership with artist Gregory Ivy. In an unusual approach to mid-century architecture, this building likely reflects a trip Loewenstein made to Florence, Italy by embracing the corner context of the site with a zero-lot-line placement and then providing generous eaves over the sidewalk. Other notable features include a dramatic glazed entry with a staircase and pilasters that infer a classical design. Bas-relief panels composed of aggregate are rumored to reflect sensuous masculine forms and constitute one of the largest displays of public art in the city. Private.Style: New Formalism. Greensboro Preservation Award 2006.
