{"nrhp_refnum":"89001770","name":"Hotel Kinston","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"503 N. Queen St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kinston","county":"Lenoir County","state":"NC","lat":35.26518316900007,"lon":-77.58090201399995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"An eleven-story hotel building at 503 North Queen Street, Kinston, North Carolina, built in 1927-28 to designs by High Point architect Herbert B. Hunter. It is the only skyscraper in the city's central business district.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it was Kinston's first skyscraper and the city's principal example of Art Deco composition combined with Moorish decorative details. It reflects the commercial prosperity and civic boosterism of 1920s North Carolina, when community leaders financed hotels to aid commercial development. Kinston's role as a center of the Bright Leaf Tobacco Belt and a regional cotton market supported that prosperity.","narrative":"Rising eleven stories at the corner of North Queen Street and East Peyton Avenue, this brick and cast-stone hotel was built in 1927-28 and remains the tallest building in downtown Kinston. High Point architect Herbert B. Hunter designed it, with Joe W. Stout of Sanford as general contractor. Moorish details mark the entrance loggia and the upper floors, while setbacks give the tower an Art Deco profile and bring daylight to the rooms. Local business leaders formed a stock company in 1926 to fund it, reflecting the confidence of a city that served as a center of the Bright Leaf tobacco belt and a regional cotton market. The hotel contained shops, a dining room, a mezzanine lounge, a ballroom seating 350 and 100 guest rooms. It operated as a hotel until the 1960s and was later converted to apartments for low-income and senior residents. The ballroom still retains its beams, plaster work and chandeliers.","period_of_significance":"1927-1939","architect_builder":"Hunter, Herbert B. (architect); Stout, Joe W. (general contractor)","architectural_style":"Art Deco, Skyscraper, Moorish","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Converted to senior citizen housing; the ballroom is substantially intact, and the ground-floor lobby area now houses an interior design shop and offices, with some rear shops vacant.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:49.749109-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/49/7181/47718149/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/89001770.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001770/0c9f4b4e7b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001770/0c9f4b4e7b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hotel_Kinston.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Tradewinds</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:Hotel_Kinston.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718149","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Kinston","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q16892467"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/lenoir-county/hotel-kinston-89001770/"}