{"nrhp_refnum":"05000325","name":"Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House","other_names":["Eta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"114 South Columbia St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chapel Hill","county":"Orange County","state":"NC","lat":35.91383506900007,"lon":-79.05532957999998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-04-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-and-one-half-story brick fraternity house at 114 South Columbia Street in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, built in 1929 in the Southern Colonial Revival style for the Eta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is one of the best examples of Southern Colonial Revival fraternity houses at UNC-Chapel Hill (Criterion C). It also reflects social history as the home of the Eta Chapter, founded in 1852 and one of the oldest fraternities on campus (Criterion A). The building keeps its original form and plan despite 1962 alterations and a renovation begun in 1997.","narrative":"Set well back from South Columbia Street across from the UNC campus, this brick fraternity house was completed in 1929 for the Eta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi. It rises two and a half stories above a full basement, with a full-height Doric portico, French doors, pedimented dormers and gambrel-roofed side wings. The chapter bought the George Pickard property in 1925 for $25,000 and built the new house for roughly $50,000 after fraternities were moved off the old campus row following a 1919 fire. The architect is unknown; blueprints name B. McAlester of Columbia, Missouri, as builder. Alterations include a 1962 enlargement of the south wing and enclosed porches, and a renovation begun in 1997 that added sprinklers. The house is recognized as a leading example of Southern Colonial Revival fraternity architecture at UNC and as a long-standing home of one of the campus's oldest fraternities, reflecting the growth of Greek life in the 1920s.","period_of_significance":"1929-1954","architect_builder":"Unknown architect; B. McAlester, builder","architectural_style":"Southern Colonial Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a fraternity house; renovated beginning in 1997 to meet code and fire requirements while preserving original form and plan.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:54.39864-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/7216/47721690/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/05000325.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000325/f777beb2b1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000325/f777beb2b1-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jerrye &amp; Roy Klotz, MD","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:BETA_THETA_PI_FRATERNITY_HOUSE;_CHAPEL_HILL;_ORANGE_COUNTY.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jerrye &amp;amp; Roy Klotz, MD</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:BETA_THETA_PI_FRATERNITY_HOUSE;_CHAPEL_HILL;_ORANGE_COUNTY.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721690","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_Theta_Pi_Fraternity_House_(Chapel_Hill,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19600464"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/orange-county/beta-theta-pi-fraternity-house-05000325/"}