{"nrhp_refnum":"74002099","name":"Bank Building","other_names":["Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"No. 1 Court House Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Accomac","county":"Accomack County","state":"VA","lat":37.71115266900006,"lon":-75.70157532099995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-07-23","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Federal-style commercial building with a full basement at No. 1 Court House Avenue in Accomac (formerly Drummondtown), Accomack County, Virginia. It was built around 1820 by Michael Higgins and Alexander McCollom.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it Accomack County's best preserved Federal-style commercial building and one of Virginia's finest high-style Federal-period commercial buildings. It housed one of the county's principal mercantile enterprises and later took its name from Thomas W. Blackstone's private bank. It shows how practical mercantile needs were combined with early-nineteenth-century architectural style.","narrative":"Built around 1820 in what was then Drummondtown, this two-story brick building with a full basement is regarded as Accomack County's best preserved Federal-style commercial structure. Michael Higgins and Alexander McCollom erected it after buying the lot in 1819, and it housed one of the county's principal mercantile businesses. After Higgins died in 1825, McCollom bought out his heirs. In 1867 Dr. Edward Young acquired the building, then called the Brick Store, and it passed to his granddaughter and her husband, Thomas W. Blackstone, who ran a private bank there. That bank gave the building its name. Notable features include Flemish bond brickwork with king closers, a modillion cornice with a fretwork frieze, and a fine fanlight in the gable end. A second-floor door marks where goods were once hoisted into storage. Its refined detailing and survival despite minor alterations led to its listing. It now serves as offices for the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Michael Higgins and Alexander McCollom","architectural_style":"Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned and maintained by the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce and used as offices; condition marked as altered, with minor alterations noted.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:57.328828-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/11/6792/41679211/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/74002099.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002099/43adf3f30e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002099/43adf3f30e-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Ammodramus","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercantile_Bldg_(Accomac_VA)_from_SW_1.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Ammodramus</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mercantile_Bldg_(Accomac_VA)_from_SW_1.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41679211","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Building_(Accomac,_Virginia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14691874"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/accomack-county/bank-building-74002099/"}