The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is pleased to announce that two districts and two individual properties across the state have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. In addition, one previously listed historic district received additional historical documentation.
The following properties were reviewed by the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee and 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, which is maintained by the National Park Service. Nominations must be approved by the federal government through the Keeper of the National Register to be included in the National Register.
“Historic places are part of North Carolina’s cultural resources, and they need our protection,” said Reid Wilson, secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “These additional North Carolina listings on the National Register of Historic Places enrich the story of the people, culture and progress in 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, 2022, over 4,124 historic rehabilitation projects with an estimated private investment of over $3.409 billion have been completed.
In Central North Carolina
Kimberlee Apartments, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, listed 7/27/2022
Kimberlee Apartments is locally significant under National Register Criterion C for architecture as one of Charlotte’s most distinctive and intact mid-twentieth-century Modernist apartment towers. Planned and erected by Godley Construction Company per the design of the architecture firm Charles Morrison Grier and Associates, the substantial and stylish six-story building completed in 1965 has a long, flat-roofed form. The two-wing brick, steel, and concrete structure features a central lobby accessed via a portico with a distinctive sawtooth canopy and Japanese rock garden. Running-bond wire-cut brown brick walls contrast with smooth-finish ivory-painted-concrete cornices, canopies, and balcony balustrades. A Modernist influence is apparent in the connectivity between inside and outside spaces perpetuated by expansive aluminum-frame windows, curtain walls, and sliding-glass doors. Additional Original hardscape features contribute to the site’s Modernist aesthetic. The period of significance is 1965, the construction completion date.
Pilot Life Insurance Company Headquarters, Greensboro, Guilford County, listed 7/27/2022
In 1927–1928, the Pilot Life Insurance Company home office is locally significant under Criterion C for Architecture as a collection of Georgian Revival–style buildings and is of statewide significance as the earliest-known, pioneering example of a modern suburban corporate headquarters campus in North Carolina. Pilot Life was known for innovations in its insurance product offerings, cultivating a reputation for forward-thinking, dedicated service to its employees as well as to its clientele. The design of the company’s headquarters buildings and grounds, therefore, epitomized the innovations it had made as it rose through the industry’s ranks, with a nod to the state’s colonial past in the buildings’ architectural details. With its handsome Georgian Revival–style buildings replete with allegorical stone images lauding hard work, its layout designed for efficiency, its landscaped grounds, its fountain and lake, and its facilities for employee comfort and entertainment, the complex exemplified an early modern suburban “corporate campus.” The period of significance extends from 1927, when construction began, to ca. 1965, when the construction of the last contributing building was completed.
Zebulon Historic District, Zebulon, Wake County, listed 8/22/2022
The Zebulon Historic District is significant at the local level under Criterion A for Commerce as an important trading center for the eastern portion of Wake County, as well as nearby Franklin, Nash, Wilson, and Johnston counties. It is significant at the local level under Criterion A for Community Planning and Development as an example of a town-wide gridiron development plan. The town was platted and developed in two primary sections, with the southern section developing during the early twentieth century, followed by the northern section in the mid-twentieth century. The district is also significant under Criterion C for Architecture as it retains representative examples of vernacular and high-style buildings that demonstrate national stylistic trends during the period of significance, 1906 to 1971. These include Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, transitional Queen Anne/Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival, Italian Renaissance Revival, Craftsman, Period Cottage, Ranch, Minimal Traditional, Modernist styles.
Palmer Memorial Institute Historic District (Additional Documentation), Sedalia, Guilford County, listed 9/14/2022
The Palmer Memorial Institute Historic District was listed in the National Register in 1988 under Criterion A due to its statewide significance in education and Black ethnic heritage and Criterion B for its association with prominent African American educator Charlotte Hawkins Brown. The purpose of this additional documentation is to provide current information about the district’s physical condition and history and extend the period of significance to 1971, when Palmer Memorial Institute closed. The extended period spans the presidencies of Crosson, Harold E. Bragg, and Charles W. Bundrige, and the expansion of educational facilities. During Crosson’s tenure, PMI’s stellar reputation as a college preparatory school continued to attract youth from throughout the United States as well as international students. Even after the school closed, alumni have continued to perpetuate the school’s mission as they lead efforts to achieve equal rights, advocating for school integration, voting rights, and gender and racial parity throughout the United States. PMI faculty, the majority of whom had graduate degrees, taught stimulating classes that provided a strong foundation for future educational and employment opportunities and inspired students to pursue community uplift. Alumni achievements demonstrate the efficacy of PMI’s pedagogical approach, known as the “triangle of achievement,” which provided youth with the academic, leadership, and teamwork skills and motivation to become “educationally efficient, culturally secure, and religiously sincere.”
In Western North Carolina
Lynncote Historic District, Tryon vicinity, Polk County, listed 7/28/2022
The Lynncote Historic District is a small residential district encompassing Lynncote (previously National Register-listed in 2010) and four additional resources associated with, and developed by, Emma Payne Erskine Corwin (1852-1924), who originally developed the Lynncote estate with her first husband beginning in the 1890s. She was a socially active artist and writer who contributed greatly to the cultural life of Tryon in the early twentieth century. Erskine’s popular novels of the 1910s, including The Mountain Girl, The Eye of Dread, and A Girl of the Blue Ridge, were written in a small, detached writing studio at Lynncote called “the Little Room.” Her influence in Tryon included supporting the Lanier Club and library, organizing the Tryon Country Club and golf course, and developing a number of investment properties in Tryon. Four Craftsman and Rustic Revival dwellings primarily built as rental houses stand on the northeast side of NC 108 (Lynn Road) opposite the second house known as Lynncote. The locally significant district meets Criterion B for the significant contributions of Emma Payne Erskine Corwin in the areas of social history and literature. It also meets Criterion C for the complementary collection of locally significant architecture including Craftsman and Rustic Revival-style rental houses Corwin built with William F. Smith adjacent to Lynncote in the 1910s and 1920s.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Images are available in a higher resolution in this Dropbox link.
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 by clicking on the National Register page of the State Historic Preservation Office website. For more information on the National Register, including the criteria for listing, see this page.
About the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
The N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) is the state agency with a vision to be the leader in using the state's natural and cultural resources to build the social, cultural, educational and economic future of North Carolina. NCDNCR's mission is to improve the quality of life in our state by creating opportunities to experience excellence in the arts, history, libraries and nature in North Carolina by stimulating learning, inspiring creativity, preserving the state's history, conserving the state's natural heritage, encouraging recreation and cultural tourism, and promoting economic development.
NCDNCR includes 27 historic sites, seven history museums, two art museums, three science museums, three aquariums and Jennette's Pier, 41 state parks and recreation areas, the N.C. Zoo, the N.C. Symphony Orchestra, the State Library, the State Archives, the N.C. Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, State Preservation Office and the Office of State Archaeology, and the Division of Land and Water Stewardship. For more information, please visit https://www.dncr.nc.gov/.