{"nrhp_refnum":"88000139","name":"Stuart Motor Company","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"109--111 E. Mountain St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kernersville","county":"Forsyth County","state":"NC","lat":36.11981650600006,"lon":-80.07259766499999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1988-02-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick automobile showroom and garage at 109-111 East Mountain Street in Kernersville, Forsyth County, North Carolina, built in 1926 by Ned Robert Stuart. It is two stories at the front with a one-story garage section behind.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a well-preserved example of an early automobile showroom, a building type that combines the nineteenth-century livery stable with the decorated facade of a retail store. It is also significant in social history because, by family tradition, owner Ned Robert Stuart moved his family into the second floor and invoked the Homestead Act to save the building from foreclosure during the Depression.","narrative":"Built in 1926 at 109-111 East Mountain Street in Kernersville, this brick building served as the town's first automobile dealership. Ned Robert Stuart borrowed $30,000 to construct it, first selling Hudson-Essex cars and switching to Ford around 1928. The front third rises two stories, with display windows, a wood-framed garage door and a parapet with a central arch, while the taller one-story rear section held the garage and maintenance areas. The second floor began as a machine shop and was converted to four apartments by 1930, one occupied by Stuart's family. The building is considered important as an early showroom type that blends the livery stable with a retail storefront, and it remains largely unaltered, with its original display floor and garage facilities intact. It also reflects Stuart's Depression-era struggle, when, according to family tradition, living upstairs and invoking the Homestead Act helped him keep the property until the loan was repaid in 1938.","period_of_significance":"1926-ca. 1930","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Commercial Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Virtually unchanged from its ca. 1930 appearance; the building presently houses a wrecker service.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.317676-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/17/7178/47717817/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/88000139.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88000139/21aa1f793a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/88000139/21aa1f793a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ceh2624","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:StuartMotorCompanyFront.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Ceh2624</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:StuartMotorCompanyFront.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717817","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Motor_Company","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24041057"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/forsyth-county/stuart-motor-company-88000139/"}