{"nrhp_refnum":"85003084","name":"Fields, William, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"447 Arlington St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Greensboro","county":"Guilford County","state":"NC","lat":36.065084967000075,"lon":-79.78897609599994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-12-05","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-and-a-half story brick Gothic Revival cottage at 447 Arlington Street in Greensboro, North Carolina, built between 1875 and 1879 for tobacco manufacturer William Fields.","why_significant":"The house is a rare North Carolina example of the Downingesque Gothic cottage and one of only a few mid-19th century buildings left in Greensboro. It retains its original form and stylistic details despite harsh surface treatments in 1979. It is also associated with the post-Civil War growth of Greensboro and its emerging middle class.","narrative":"Built between 1875 and 1879 at 447 Arlington Street, this one-and-a-half story brick cottage was home to William Fields, a tobacco manufacturer. Its T-shaped plan, steep gables, wall dormers, lancet-arched upper windows, quatrefoil vents and bracketed bay window follow the Gothic Revival cottage style popularized by Andrew Jackson Downing. Local tradition attributes it, without documentation, to architect Lyndon Swaim, who is also linked to two other brick Gothic houses in the city. The house is one of very few mid-19th century buildings left in Greensboro and a rare North Carolina example of its style. It also reflects the growth of the city's middle class after the Civil War, near the Shieldstown residential development. Later it served as a church parsonage and then an antique shop. Sandblasting and chemical paint removal in 1979 damaged woodwork and brick, but the building keeps its original form and details. A preservation society now owns it and planned repairs.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Unknown; possibly Lyndon Swaim of Greensboro (attribution undocumented)","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival (Downingesque Gothic cottage)","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Owned by a preservation society that plans to use it as offices and a meeting space; the form says it stood vacant for several years after an antique shop closed, and exterior and interior repairs were being planned.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:48.753893-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/4/7205/47720504/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/85003084.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003084/912d119e32-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85003084/912d119e32-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Rhpotter","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Fields_House_(Greensboro,_North_Carolina)_1.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Rhpotter</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:William_Fields_House_(Greensboro,_North_Carolina)_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47720504","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Fields_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19461737"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/guilford-county/fields-william-house-85003084/"}