{"nrhp_refnum":"00001163","name":"American Tobacco Company Manufacturing Plant","other_names":["W.T. Blackwell Company Tobacco","Bull Durham"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by W. Pettigrew St., Blackwell St., Willard St. and Carr St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Durham","county":"Durham County","state":"NC","lat":35.99524880650006,"lon":-78.90459478030152,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2000-09-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national","state","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 14.58-acre industrial district occupying a single long block in Durham, North Carolina, bounded by W. Pettigrew, Blackwell, Willard and Carr Streets. It contains tobacco factories, warehouses and a power plant built between 1874 and the 1950s.","why_significant":"The plant is argued to represent the history of Durham's tobacco industry, from W. T. Blackwell & Company and its Bull Durham brand through the American Tobacco Company trust and the reorganized company after 1911. It is also significant architecturally, since its buildings show industrial design from the Italianate 1870s through Romanesque Revival warehouses to Moderne factories of the 1930s to 1950s.","narrative":"Occupying one long block in downtown Durham, this tobacco manufacturing complex shows about eighty years of industrial building in a single streetscape. At its north end stands the Italianate W. T. Blackwell & Company Factory, begun in 1874 for the makers of Bull Durham smoking tobacco. Toward the middle are warehouses and factories from about 1900 to 1907, built by the American Tobacco Company in slow-burn construction with Romanesque Revival brickwork such as dogtooth courses, machicolation and corbelling. The south end holds large Moderne factories from 1939, 1946 and 1953-54, with concrete frames and brick curtain walls. A power plant with a Lucky Strike chimney and a painted water tower add to the skyline. The complex records the growth of Blackwell and Company, the American Tobacco Company trust formed by James B. Duke, and the reorganized company after 1911. Fourteen resources contribute to the district, which is now vacant.","period_of_significance":"1874-1954","architect_builder":"Unknown","architectural_style":"Italianate, Romanesque Revival, Moderne, No Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant/not in use; the interior of Hill Warehouse is structurally deteriorated though its exterior walls are sound.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:54.125259-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/83/7177/47717783/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/00001163.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001163/4065ce45e9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/00001163/4065ce45e9-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Davidwells75","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Tobacco_Campus.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Davidwells75</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Tobacco_Campus.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717783","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Tobacco_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16827951"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/durham-county/american-tobacco-company-manufacturing-plant-00001163/"}