{"nrhp_refnum":"09000703","name":"Griffith-Sowers House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5050 Statesville Boulevard","address_restricted":false,"city":"Salisbury","county":"Rowan County","state":"NC","lat":35.71677488450004,"lon":-80.57106004952777,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2009-09-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":[],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large two-story-with-attic frame Colonial Revival country house on about thirty acres seven miles west of Salisbury in Rowan County, North Carolina, with an attached garage, outbuildings and a studio on its grounds. It was designed in 1930 by Percy Bloxam and built by Alfred Ross Lazenby for James Francis Griffith and his wife.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is an important and unique example of interwar Colonial Revival architecture in Rowan County and one of only two related country houses built in the county in the 1930s. It is described as the only known residence designed by Bloxam, and its planned and partly finished interior reflects the original plans and specifications.","narrative":"Set on a slight rise in the rolling Piedmont about seven miles west of Salisbury, this large two-story frame house with an attic was designed in 1930 by Percy Bloxam, an English-born engineer working in Salisbury. Its exterior was finished by Alfred Ross Lazenby, a prominent Salisbury contractor, by 1933, when it had a slate roof, copper gutters and metal lath in place. The house has a five-part plan with a central block, linked hyphens and two flanking wings, and a south-facing front with a Tuscan-columned porch. Built for James Francis Griffith, a Salisbury music teacher, it was lost in foreclosure. Jesse Lewis Sowers bought it at auction in 1933 and finished the interior in stages until 1962. The house is significant as an example of interwar Colonial Revival design and country house architecture in Rowan County, and as the single known work of its designer, Bloxam.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1930-1962","architect_builder":"Percy Bloxam (architect); Alfred Ross Lazenby (builder)","architectural_style":"Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Occupied as a single-family residence; the interior was completed by 1962 and the house became a single-family dwelling after 1963.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.55734-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/50/7220/47722050/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/09000703.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722050","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffith%E2%80%93Sowers_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19867175"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/rowan-county/griffith-sowers-house-09000703/"}