{"nrhp_refnum":"71001050","name":"Williams-Brown House and Store","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"523 E. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Salem (Independent City)","county":"Salem","state":"VA","lat":37.294090924000045,"lon":-80.05172397099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1971-11-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An L-shaped, 2½-story brick house and store at 523 East Main Street in Salem, Virginia, built around 1837 by William C. Williams.","why_significant":"It is presented as one of the best surviving early-nineteenth-century buildings in Salem and a rare example of a double-porch-fronted commercial form once common along the Valley Pike. Its porches are built into the main structure, and its design and detailing are described as sophisticated. It also stood on Main Street, part of the 'Great Road' west.","narrative":"Built around 1837 on Salem's East Main Street, this L-shaped brick building served as both a store and a dwelling. It rises two and a half stories under a medium gable roof, with Federal and Greek Revival proportions and Flemish bond brickwork. Its most notable feature is a double porch built into the structure itself, with chamfered posts ending in lambs' tongues and brick arches at each end giving access. The builder, William C. Williams, also helped build Salem's first courthouse. After his death the property passed to his son-in-law, J. R. C. Brown, and stayed in the Brown family until 1963. The store prospered on Main Street, once part of the Great Road west toward Tennessee and Kentucky, and a store addition was made in 1876. The building is valued as a rare survivor of a commercial form once common along the Valley Pike and for the quality of its detail.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"William C. Williams (builder)","architectural_style":"Federal-Greek Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in fair condition, altered, on its original site, and occupied. Later papers describe a 1985 proposal to move the original brick portion about 400 yards east to a city park for use as a museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:56.453826-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/60/6835/41683560/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/71001050.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71001050/cb33509160-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/71001050/cb33509160-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Molly Cardenas","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WilliamsBrownHouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Molly Cardenas</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:WilliamsBrownHouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41683560","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Williams%E2%80%93Brown_House_and_Store","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16903466"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/salem/williams-brown-house-and-store-71001050/"}