{"nrhp_refnum":"86000561","name":"Howard-Royal House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"202 N. Main St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Salemburg","county":"Sampson County","state":"NC","lat":35.01645167600003,"lon":-78.50317099299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-03-17","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame house at 202 North Main Street in Salemburg, Sampson County, North Carolina, built in 1892 by A. Frank Howard as his residence and later enlarged from an earlier three-room house.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house adapts the county's rural two-story, single-pile form into an unusually symmetrical town residence with a triple-gabled front. Its interior has some of the county's finest decorative beaded tongue-and-groove sheathing with sawtooth ornament. It is also tied to Salemburg's growth around Salem Academy and to two prominent local families, and it may hold archaeological information.","narrative":"Built in 1892 by Salemburg businessman A. Frank Howard, this house at 202 North Main Street stands at the edge of the town's commercial section. Its front block is two stories and one room deep, with a strictly symmetrical facade: a central two-tier porch flanked by bay windows, each capped with its own gable. Behind it sits an earlier three-room T-plan house that was enlarged and joined to the new section. Inside, the center hall and parlors are covered in beaded tongue-and-groove sheathing laid in diagonal and vertical patterns, with sawtooth strips at the cornices, ceilings and mantels. The nomination calls this one of the county's finest examples of the technique. Anderson Royal bought the house in the early twentieth century, and his family used it as a residence, occasionally boarding students from Salem Academy. His son later owned it. An antique shop occupied it until shortly before listing, and it was then vacant. Possible archaeological remains on the lot were also noted.","period_of_significance":"1892","architect_builder":"A. Frank Howard (builder, per the description); architect listed as Unknown","architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","B","C","D"],"status_note":"Recently vacated after use as an antique shop; described as vacant, in excellent condition and well maintained by the owner's family.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:48.80574-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/45/7184/47718445/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/86000561.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718445","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard-Royal_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19880372"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/sampson-county/howard-royal-house-86000561/"}