{"nrhp_refnum":"74001346","name":"Bull Durham Tobacco Factory","other_names":["W.T. Blackwell &","Co. Tobacco Factory"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"201 W. Pettigrew St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Durham","county":"Durham County","state":"NC","lat":35.99402476700004,"lon":-78.90417081799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-09-10","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1977-12-22","areas_of_significance":["Industry","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large four-story Italianate brick tobacco factory on the south side of Pettigrew Street in Durham, North Carolina, completed by 1875 for W. T. Blackwell and Company, makers of Bull Durham smoking tobacco.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it Durham's most important landmark to the tobacco manufacturing that defined the city, and one of the most important monuments of the state's primary industry. It was built at the height of Bull Durham's success as a planned, functional factory with a stylish exterior. It also represents the firm's pioneering advertising and its later role under the American Tobacco Company.","narrative":"Bull Durham Tobacco Factory is a large Italianate brick building on Pettigrew Street in Durham, beside the Southern Railway tracks. Completed by 1875 for W. T. Blackwell and Company, it began as a U-shaped, four-story structure, and a rear addition after 1884 enclosed an interior courtyard. Windows have crossetted surrounds, the corners are quoined, and a wide bracketed metal cornice crowns the flat roof. Inside, wooden floors and posts are divided by brick fire walls. The plant was considered highly efficient, with separate floors for cutting, packing, labeling and storage. The firm grew from about a dozen employees in 1869 to roughly 900 in 1884, and its Durham Bull trademark became famous through national advertising led by Julian S. Carr. The building is listed as a leading monument to North Carolina's tobacco industry. James B. Duke's American Tobacco Company later took over the factory, producing Lucky Strike there from 1916. Some alterations have covered the facades, though the west half is largely unaltered.","period_of_significance":"19th Century","architect_builder":"W. T. Blackwell and Company (builder/owner); bull designs by Jules Korner","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and altered. The east half lost its two upper stories, and the north and east facades are covered in corrugated aluminum. The east side houses American Tobacco Company offices and the west side is used for storage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:57.477975-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/56/7200/47720056/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/74001346.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001346/fc6653aa2b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74001346/fc6653aa2b-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Duke Manuscript Collection","credit_html":"Duke Manuscript Collection, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackwell1895.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"00001163","name":"American Tobacco Company Manufacturing Plant","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/american-tobacco-company-manufacturing-plant-00001163/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720056","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._T._Blackwell_and_Company","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7946004"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/durham-county/bull-durham-tobacco-factory-74001346/"}