{"nrhp_refnum":"02000112","name":"Gunter Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"288 Oak Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Spruce Pine","county":"Mitchell County","state":"NC","lat":35.91568349900007,"lon":-82.06825084299999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2002-03-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story-plus-basement commercial store building on the southwest corner of Oak Avenue and Topaz Street in downtown Spruce Pine, Mitchell County, North Carolina, built ca. 1941 for the Belk-Broome Company.","why_significant":"The building is regarded as a representative example of a twentieth-century commercial building type and is distinguished by its use of locally mined, river-tumbled micaceous biotite stone. It is described as the only building in town constructed of this stone, and it was built by local stonemasons for a prominent mica industrialist and civic leader.","narrative":"Built around 1941 on a sloping lot in downtown Spruce Pine, the Gunter Building is a two-story commercial store with a basement, faced in river-tumbled micaceous biotite stone from a source in Avery County. Local stonemasons Charlie Mitchell and Dave Greene laid the stone in a random pattern around deliberately placed larger boulders, with vertical courses marking the window lintels, sills, and floor divisions. The building was constructed as a store for the Belk-Broome Company. Its interior has a large open floor plan with oak floors and columns. It is regarded as the only building in Spruce Pine made from this stone, which is why it is considered distinctive. The building was erected on land acquired from the Town of Spruce Pine in 1941 by Charles Smith Gunter, a mica processor who served as alderman or mayor from 1923 until 1961. The building is listed for its architecture and its distinctive stonework.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1941","architect_builder":"Charlie Mitchell and Dave Greene (stonemasons)","architectural_style":"Other: stone commercial","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The building is being renovated for use as a restaurant, meeting space, and offices.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.145172-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/0/7214/47721400/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/02000112.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000112/1ef0b58f36-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/02000112/1ef0b58f36-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gunter_Building_in_Spruce_Pine.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gunter_Building_in_Spruce_Pine.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721400","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunter_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19462121"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/mitchell-county/gunter-building-02000112/"}