{"nrhp_refnum":"79001681","name":"Richbourg Motors Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"50 Coxe Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.59229184600008,"lon":-82.55467798199999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-04-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick-faced automobile showroom and garage at the northeast corner of Coxe Avenue and Sawyer Street in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was built in 1926 as part of Asheville's Automobile Row.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an important contributing structure to Asheville's Automobile Row and a well-detailed example of the centripetally organized auto showroom and garage of the 1920s. It was described at the time as the largest automobile business building in Western North Carolina. It was designed by Albert C. Wirth, the architect of the Flatiron Building.","narrative":"A three-story brick-faced automobile showroom and garage stands on the northeast corner of Coxe Avenue and Sawyer Street in Asheville. Completed in 1926 for Tench C. Coxe, the building was designed by Albert C. Wirth, who also designed the Flatiron Building. Its front curves gently to follow the street, and its bays are divided by stack-bond brick pilasters with limestone inserts. Broad limestone mock arches top each bay, and the parapet has brick panels with a limestone coping. The first floor held display rooms, offices, stock rooms, a Lincoln service department and a quick-service department, while the second floor housed the main Ford department. Upper floors were used for auto storage, and ramps rather than elevators linked the levels. Local newspapers of the period described it as the largest automobile business building in Western North Carolina. The building is regarded as a well-detailed example of the 1920s auto showroom and garage type, and as a contributing part of Automobile Row along Coxe Avenue.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Albert C. Wirth (architect)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.060863-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7173/47717326/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/79001681.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001681/5572418a4d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001681/5572418a4d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Nicole Justiniano","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richbourg_Motors_Building.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Nicole Justiniano</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:Richbourg_Motors_Building.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/47717326","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richbourg_Motors_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18157275"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/richbourg-motors-building-79001681/"}