{"nrhp_refnum":"89000944","name":"Walker, James, Nursing School Quarters","other_names":["New Hanover County Dept. of Social Services Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"1020 Rankin St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Wilmington","county":"New Hanover County","state":"NC","lat":34.241127739000035,"lon":-77.93619665899996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-07-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Education"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story brick nurses' dormitory at 1020 Rankin Street in Wilmington, North Carolina, built in 1921 as quarters for the James Walker Nursing School and the only surviving building of the James Walker Hospital complex.","why_significant":"The nomination argues statewide significance under Criterion A for its link to nursing and medical education in North Carolina and its rarity as an early nurses' dormitory. It is described as the second oldest surviving nursing school building in the state, after Wyche House in Durham (1910). Alterations are said to rule out Criterion C for architecture.","narrative":"Built in 1921 with funds raised as a memorial to Rev. A.D. McClure, this four-story brick dormitory at 1020 Rankin Street housed student nurses of the James Walker Nursing School in Wilmington. It has a reinforced concrete frame, a flat roof, a metal cornice and restrained Colonial Revival and Neo-Classical details. Later changes include a 1926 addition, a 1937 south wing that was later demolished, a 1945 fourth floor and a 1968 rear elevator. Its two monumental porticos were removed after 1966. The nursing school graduated its first class in 1903, and one of those graduates received the first nursing registration certificate issued in North Carolina. The hospital closed in 1967 and its other buildings were demolished, leaving the quarters as the only survivor. The county used it for social services offices until 1988. It is considered significant for its role in early nursing education and as the second oldest surviving nursing school building in the state.","period_of_significance":"1921-1939","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Colonial Revival, Classical Revival, and utilitarian industrial","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Vacant since July 1988, when the county Department of Social Services moved out; adaptive reuse was being sought.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:49.907769-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/66/7215/47721566/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/89000944.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000944/98e07fec4e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89000944/98e07fec4e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:James_Walker_Nursing_School_Quarters_(Wilmington,_NC)_2.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</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:James_Walker_Nursing_School_Quarters_(Wilmington,_NC)_2.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"03000344","name":"Wilmington Historic District (Boundary Increase)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/wilmington-historic-district-boundary-increase-03000344/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721566","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Walker_Nursing_School_Quarters","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24041073"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/new-hanover-county/walker-james-nursing-school-quarters-89000944/"}