{"nrhp_refnum":"85001847","name":"Venable Tobacco Company Warehouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"302--304 E. Pettigrew St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Durham","county":"Durham County","state":"NC","lat":35.992145281000035,"lon":-78.89978379699994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-08-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-unit brick tobacco warehouse at 302-304 E. Pettigrew St. in Durham, North Carolina. Units 1 and 2 were built in 1905, and Unit 3 was added in the 1910s.","why_significant":"It is one of only two remaining independent tobacco warehouses from central Durham's late nineteenth and early twentieth-century boom, and the only one that survives intact. It reflects the strength of Durham's tobacco industry and the standing of its parent firm, Dibrell Brothers of Danville, Virginia, as an independent leaf broker. It is also a well-preserved example of slow burn construction.","narrative":"Rising close to South Roxboro Street at the edge of Durham's downtown, this brick warehouse at 302-304 E. Pettigrew St. was built in 1905 for tobacco storage and inspection, with a third unit added in the 1910s. Its heavy timber frame, thick brick walls, tin-clad shutters and doors, and flat-topped parapets follow the slow burn method used for tobacco warehouses of the period. The Durham Tobacco Storage and Inspection Co. built it, and the related Venable Tobacco Co. occupied it. Both were branches of Dibrell Brothers, a Danville, Virginia, leaf broker that followed the tobacco industry southward. Around 1920 local tobacconists Clinton W. Toms and James S. Cobb took control of the Durham operation in partnership with the parent company. Most of the surrounding industrial buildings have been demolished, and this is the only intact survivor of two remaining independent warehouses of its kind in central Durham. It is still used for tobacco, and it was listed for its link to the city's tobacco trade and its well-preserved design.","period_of_significance":"1900-1999 (specific dates 1905/1910s)","architect_builder":"unknown (built by the Durham Tobacco Storage and Inspection Co.)","architectural_style":"Slow burn construction with heavy timber supports and solid brick walls; plain industrial design","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Remains in use as a tobacco warehouse, occupied by a branch of its builder's parent company; condition listed as good and unaltered.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:51.206778-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/49/7177/47717749/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/85001847.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001847/b7c24b9c17-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001847/b7c24b9c17-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venable_Tobacco_Company_Warehouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venable_Tobacco_Company_Warehouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717749","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venable_Tobacco_Company_Warehouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20745523"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/durham-county/venable-tobacco-company-warehouse-85001847/"}