{"nrhp_refnum":"10000282","name":"Martinsville Novelty Corporation Factory","other_names":["VDHR No. 120-5089"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"900 Rives Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Martinsville (Independent City)","county":"Martinsville","state":"VA","lat":36.67710957600008,"lon":-79.86149056099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-05-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former furniture factory complex at 900 Rives Road in Martinsville, Virginia, built in 1929 for the Martinsville Novelty Corporation. It includes a three-story brick factory, attached wood storage and kiln, a Quonset hut, a storage building, a former restaurant and a railroad spur and trestle.","why_significant":"The factory is tied to Martinsville's moderately priced furniture-manufacturing industry, which made the city a leading furniture center in the twentieth century. It is also an example of a utilitarian, purpose-built factory that retains its integrity. It is one of only a handful of early-twentieth-century furniture factories still standing within the city limits.","narrative":"Built in 1929 at 900 Rives Road in Martinsville, Virginia, this three-story brick factory was designed to turn raw lumber into small occasional furniture such as coffee and end tables. Lumber entered one end of the building and finished pieces shipped from the other. A wood storage shed and drying kiln are attached to the northwest end, and a railroad spur and trestle served the plant. A Quonset hut, a concrete-block storage building and a small building once used as a restaurant were added by the late 1940s and early 1950s. The company was organized in 1928, first as Southern Chair and Novelty Corporation, and employed about 115 people in the mid-1970s. Foreign competition and rising costs led to losses, and the plant closed in 1995. The complex is recognized for its link to Martinsville's moderately priced furniture industry and as a well-preserved, purpose-built factory that keeps nearly all of its original windows and supporting buildings.","period_of_significance":"1929-1960","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Factory closed in 1995; current function listed as vacant, not in use. A rehabilitation project is planned that includes removing a recent metal shed.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.909052-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/74/6818/41681874/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/10000282.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000282/3f58f16176-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/10000282/3f58f16176-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martinsville_Novelty_Corporation_Factory.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martinsville_Novelty_Corporation_Factory.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681874","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martinsville_Novelty_Corporation_Factory","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16894694"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/martinsville/martinsville-novelty-corporation-factory-10000282/"}