{"nrhp_refnum":"07001139","name":"Fries Boarding Houses","other_names":["220-5015"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"362 & 364 Grayson St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fries","county":"Grayson County","state":"VA","lat":36.71715468100007,"lon":-80.97852840399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-10-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Two twin, two-story frame boarding houses at 362 and 364 Grayson Street in the mill town of Fries, Grayson County, Virginia, built around 1905 as company housing for the Washington Mills Company.","why_significant":"The boarding houses illustrate the company's planned design of the self-sufficient mill village and its housing of textile workers. They stand out from the one-story workers' houses by their size and prominent location. Their succession of keepers and boarders reflects the mobile population of an early twentieth-century mill town.","narrative":"Two matching boarding houses on Grayson Street in Fries, Virginia, once sheltered workers of the Washington Mills cotton mill. Built around 1905 as part of the company's plan for a self-sufficient mill village, each is a large two-story frame building on a full-height stuccoed brick basement, with a side-gable roof, brick end chimneys, gabled dormers and modest Colonial Revival details. Inside, wide center halls run through all three levels, with maple floors, picture rails and turned newel posts. The house at 362 remains almost unaltered, including its original double-level rear porch and four-over-four windows. The house at 364 has lost some original fabric, such as its siding, windows and porch, yet its form and interior remain intact. Census records show young mill employees boarding here, and keepers and residents changed often. The pair is significant for its link to the planning of Fries and the housing of textile workers, from about 1905 to 1957.","period_of_significance":"c.1905 - 1957","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Both houses survive; 362 is virtually unaltered, while 364 has vinyl siding, replacement windows and a remodeled porch but a well-preserved interior. Current use is listed as hotel.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.408539-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/7/6810/41681007/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/07001139.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001139/046ec7a487-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07001139/046ec7a487-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fries_Boarding_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fries_Boarding_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681007","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fries_Boarding_Houses","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712343"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/grayson-county/fries-boarding-houses-07001139/"}