{"nrhp_refnum":"08000412","name":"Grace A.M.E. Zion Church","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"219-223 S. Brevard St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlotte","county":"Mecklenburg County","state":"NC","lat":35.22326366900006,"lon":-80.84178090699999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-05-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A Gothic Revival brick church at 219-223 South Brevard Street in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, built 1901-1902 for an African American A.M.E. Zion congregation to plans by Hayden, Wheeler and Schwend.","why_significant":"The church is one of the few surviving remnants of Brooklyn, Charlotte's principal African American neighborhood, which was demolished in urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. It was a central gathering place for the city's Black elite and community leaders. It is also considered among the finest turn-of-the-century Gothic Revival churches in Charlotte.","narrative":"Grace A.M.E. Zion Church is a red brick Gothic Revival church on South Brevard Street in downtown Charlotte. Designed by the firm Hayden, Wheeler and Schwend and built by African American contractor William W. Smith, it was begun in 1901 and dedicated in 1902. Two crenellated, buttressed towers of unequal height flank the entrance, and the slate-roofed main block has stained glass windows and granite trim. Inside, the sanctuary keeps its original oak pews and an intricate coffered wood ceiling. The congregation formed in 1886 and became the church of many of the city's Black leaders, professionals and business owners. It stood in Brooklyn, Charlotte's main Black residential and commercial district, which was razed during urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. The church and the nearby Mecklenburg Investment Company Building are the main survivors of that neighborhood. The congregation left in 2007, and the building was sold to a preservation body for adaptive reuse.","period_of_significance":"1902-1957","architect_builder":"Hayden, Wheeler and Schwend (architects); Smith, William W. (builder/contractor)","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The congregation moved to a new building in 2007 and sold the church to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission, which plans preservation covenants and sale for adaptive reuse. The form lists current function as vacant/not in use.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:52.89536-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/64/7213/47721364/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/08000412.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000412/f6c71b20a4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000412/f6c71b20a4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Big Wang","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grace_A.M.E._Zion_Church.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Big Wang</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Grace_A.M.E._Zion_Church.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721364","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_A.M.E._Zion_Church","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5590955"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/mecklenburg-county/grace-a-m-e-zion-church-08000412/"}