{"nrhp_refnum":"82002402","name":"Albany Housefurnishing Company","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"226 W. Broad Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Albany","county":"Dougherty County","state":"GA","lat":31.57660474200003,"lon":-84.15237606499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-06-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick commercial building at 226 West Broad Avenue in downtown Albany, Dougherty County, Georgia, built in 1922 specifically to display furniture. Architect J.T. Murphey designed it and J.C. Hind built it.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant in architecture and commerce. It was designed as a furniture store with display areas laid out like rooms in a home, and it blends older and newer building techniques. It was hailed at its 1922 opening as \"Georgia's Finest Furniture Store\" and remains one of the few largely unchanged early-twentieth-century storefronts downtown.","narrative":"Built in 1922 at 226 West Broad Avenue in Albany, Georgia, this four-story brick building was designed from the start as a furniture store. Architect J.T. Murphey drew the plans in 1919, a third floor was added in 1922, and local builder J.C. Hind constructed it for B.B. Ivey. Steel I-beams and cast-iron columns support the structure, and the facade combines patterned brick with molded concrete trim, leaded show windows with copper molding, and a tiled entrance hall. Inside, open rooms and a mezzanine let furniture be shown as if in home settings, and the original Otis elevator still runs. Newspaper advertising at its opening called it Georgia's finest furniture store. It is listed for its architecture and its place in local commercial history. It has kept the same use for decades and is one of only three buildings in its block that retain their original character, while many neighbors were altered in the 1970s.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"J.T. Murphey, Architect; J.C. Hind, Builder","architectural_style":"No pure style; a transition between nineteenth-century commercial row buildings and simpler twentieth-century forms","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in good condition; it has remained a furniture store since 1922, with no exterior alterations and only interior partition changes.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.422568-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/82002402.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002402/b4087db22b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002402/b4087db22b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Michael Rivera","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Albany_Housefurnishing_Co..JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Michael Rivera</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:Albany_Housefurnishing_Co..JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100012022","name":"Downtown Albany Commercial Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/downtown-albany-commercial-historic-district-100012022/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93207846","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Tift_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16895752"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/dougherty-county/albany-housefurnishing-company-82002402/"}