{"nrhp_refnum":"03000929","name":"Occidental Life Insurance Company Building","other_names":["Wa 4298"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1001 Wade Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Raleigh","county":"Wake County","state":"NC","lat":35.79880456300003,"lon":-78.65659630999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-09-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story, 68,000-square-foot International Style office building at 1001 Wade Avenue in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, completed in 1956 as the home office of Occidental Life Insurance Company.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is the earliest major International Style office building in Raleigh and the finest of a group of early such buildings built there from 1954 to 1962. It also set a new standard for architectural design and employee amenities in the city. It retains a high degree of integrity and qualifies under Criterion C and Criteria Consideration G.","narrative":"Completed in 1956 on a hilltop at the north edge of Cameron Village, this four-story office building at 1001 Wade Avenue in Raleigh was built as the home office of Occidental Life Insurance Company. The company had moved to Raleigh from New Mexico in 1926 and had spent nearly thirty years in a downtown high-rise. The Jacksonville, Florida, firm of Kemp, Bunch & Jackson designed the steel-frame building, with Raleigh architect Leif Valand as associate architect and George W. Kane as contractor. Its International Style design combines a brick base, limestone panels, green-tinted aluminum windows and curved aluminum entrance canopies. Inside were central air-conditioning, a theatre, executive offices and a large cafeteria. The nomination describes it as the earliest major International Style office building in Raleigh and the finest of a group built between 1954 and 1962. Alterations around 1970 enclosed the entrance plaza and porch, but the exterior and much of the interior finish remain largely intact.","period_of_significance":"1956","architect_builder":"Kemp, Bunch & Jackson (supervising architect); Valand, Leif (associate architect); George W. Kane, contractor (named in the narrative)","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: International Style","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Listed use is business/office. The form says a prospective buyer intended to restore it to its original class A office appearance. Exterior integrity is described as high.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:54.650681-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/69/7224/47722469/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/03000929.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000929/59953deeb3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000929/59953deeb3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Occidental_Life_Insurance_Company_Building.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Occidental_Life_Insurance_Company_Building.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722469","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occidental_Life_Insurance_Company_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20639522"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/wake-county/occidental-life-insurance-company-building-03000929/"}