{"nrhp_refnum":"77000994","name":"Young Men's Institute Building","other_names":["YMI Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Market and Eagle Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.59381996400003,"lon":-82.55004045799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-07-14","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Black","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 2½-story masonry community building at the northwest corner of Market and Eagle Streets in downtown Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. Built 1892-1893 and designed by Richard Sharp Smith.","why_significant":"Built as a community center for Asheville's Black citizens, including the many Black workers employed on the Biltmore Estate, it was founded by George Vanderbilt. For much of the twentieth century it housed shops, meeting rooms, residence rooms, a library branch and other functions. The nomination calls it one of the most significant focal points of Black history in the city.","narrative":"Standing at the corner of Market and Eagle Streets in downtown Asheville, the YMI Building is a 2½-story masonry structure completed in 1893 as a community center for the city's Black residents. George Vanderbilt founded the Young Men's Institute partly with the Black workers of the Biltmore Estate in mind. Richard Sharp Smith, resident architect for Biltmore, designed it in an English-derived style with pebbledash stucco, brick quoins, stone sills, wooden brackets and a tall hip roof. Inside were shops, offices, meeting rooms, a gymnasium and auditorium, and residence rooms. Over the decades it hosted a kindergarten, bathing facilities, church congregations, Black professionals, a drugstore, and a public library branch from 1926 to 1966. The institute became independent in 1906 and sold the building to a YMCA branch in 1946. The branch closed in 1976 because of needed repairs, and the building stood empty. It was listed for its role in Asheville's Black history.","period_of_significance":"1892-1893","architect_builder":"Richard Sharp Smith (architect); Wesley E. Wolfe (pebble dashing)","architectural_style":"English-derived style with pebbledash stucco and brick, stone and wood accents","criteria":[],"status_note":"Empty at the time of nomination: the YMCA branch closed in December 1976, tenants left in January 1977, and the building needed extensive repairs.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:58:56.102285-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/54/7192/47719254/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/77000994.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000994/5969916571-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77000994/5969916571-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Karen D. Hoffman","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Mens_Institute_Building_02.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Karen D. Hoffman</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:Young_Mens_Institute_Building_02.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"79001676","name":"Downtown Asheville Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/downtown-asheville-historic-district-79001676/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719254","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Men%27s_Institute_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18159358"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/young-mens-institute-building-77000994/"}