{"nrhp_refnum":"75001243","name":"Smith-McDowell House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"283 Victoria Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.57197081900006,"lon":-82.55513402299994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-08-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story, five-bay brick house at 283 Victoria Road in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, said to have been built in the 1840s for James M. Smith at the confluence of the Swannanoa and French Broad rivers.","why_significant":"Local tradition holds that it is the oldest surviving structure in Asheville, and no older ones have been recorded. It is a large, ambitious dwelling with Flemish bond brickwork and a two-tier porch under an extension of the main roof. It reflects the entrepreneurial spirit of the wealthy Smith family and the economic development of far western North Carolina.","narrative":"Said to be the oldest surviving house in Asheville, this two-story brick dwelling at 283 Victoria Road was built in the 1840s for James M. Smith, a wealthy local merchant, hotel keeper, ferry and bridge operator, and the county's leading slaveholder in 1850. Smith likely had it built for his son John Patton Smith, though no evidence shows that Smith himself lived there. The five-bay house has Flemish bond brickwork, a two-tier porch beneath the main roof, and slate roofing. The first floor was later remodeled in Neo-Classical style, and a sun room and side entrance were added in the early twentieth century. After the younger Smith's death, his brother-in-law William W. McDowell bought the property in 1858 and lived there until 1881. McDowell later served as a Confederate officer. The house later served as a Catholic high school site. At the time of listing a historical association planned to renovate it as a heritage center.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Neo-Classical interior remodeling over an earlier brick house with Federal-style elements","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as unoccupied at the time of nomination; recently sold to a technical institute and leased to a historical association that plans to renovate it as a heritage center.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:58.448063-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/89/7191/47719189/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/75001243.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001243/575f450a11-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75001243/575f450a11-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bill Fitzpatrick","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smith_McDowell_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill Fitzpatrick</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:Smith_McDowell_House.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719189","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith-McDowell_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7544924"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/smith-mcdowell-house-75001243/"}