{"nrhp_refnum":"11000210","name":"Sunset Theater","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"232, 234, 236 Sunset Ave","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheboro","county":"Randolph County","state":"NC","lat":35.705904056000065,"lon":-79.81654136199995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-04-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick movie theater at 232, 234 and 236 Sunset Avenue in downtown Asheboro, Randolph County, North Carolina, built in 1929-1930 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the theater is locally significant under Criterion C as a well-preserved example of the Spanish Colonial Revival style, which was popular for cinemas from the 1920s to the 1940s. Its original barbershop and grill spaces flanking the entrance illustrate the common practice of housing service businesses inside theaters. It is described as one of only two known surviving Spanish Colonial Revival theaters in North Carolina.","narrative":"Sunset Theater is a two-story brick movie house on Sunset Avenue in downtown Asheboro, built in 1929 and 1930 for local businessman Kirby Cox. Local contractor S. E. Trogdon supervised construction, and newspapers credited both William C. Holleyman Jr. and Benton & Benton as architects. The stuccoed facade has six bays, a frieze of relief panels with shields and conquistador heads, and a pent roof of metal imitating Spanish tile on heavy wooden brackets. Inside, the auditorium seated about 412, with a balcony that was reserved for African American patrons, who entered through a separate door in the neighboring building. Small shops for a barbershop and a grill flank the entrance. The theater was listed for its architecture. It is a well-preserved local example of a style that was popular for cinemas nationally but rare in North Carolina, where most surviving theaters have Classical Revival facades. The city purchased it in 2005.","period_of_significance":"1929-1930","architect_builder":"Holleyman, William C. Jr., architect; Benton & Benton, architects; Trogden, S. E., contractor","architectural_style":"Mission/Spanish Colonial Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"The City of Asheboro bought the building in 2005 and stabilized it, and planned an adjacent building as a new entrance with lobby, restrooms and multipurpose rooms. It stopped operating as a theater in 1981 and was later used for events and as a performing arts center.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:53.181791-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/82/7218/47721882/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/11000210.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000210/fe63bfb004-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000210/fe63bfb004-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"sw23","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sunset_Theater_2013-09-21_18-06-38.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">sw23</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:Sunset_Theater_2013-09-21_18-06-38.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100007595","name":"Asheboro Downtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/asheboro-downtown-historic-district-100007595/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721882","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunset_Theater","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20858399"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/randolph-county/sunset-theater-11000210/"}