{"nrhp_refnum":"89001772","name":"Blalock, Robert L., House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"300 S. McLewean St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kinston","county":"Lenoir County","state":"NC","lat":35.25719412800004,"lon":-77.57932968299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large two-story frame house at 300 South McLewean Street in Kinston, Lenoir County, North Carolina, believed built in the late 1850s for merchant Alexander Nicol and heavily remodeled in the early 1920s by contractor Robert L. Blalock. It now houses a funeral home.","why_significant":"The house is a largely intact example of a mid-19th century dwelling remodeled in the early 20th century into a distinctive Classical Revival building. Its brick porch, chimneys and mantels reflect the preferences of Robert L. Blalock, one of Kinston's most prolific building contractors from about 1906 to 1929. The remodeling dates from the town's early 20th century boom era.","narrative":"Standing on a corner lot one block east of Kinston's Queen Street, this two-story frame house began as a side-hall-plan dwelling built in the late 1850s, probably for merchant Alexander Nicol. Its present look comes mostly from later changes. Robert L. Blalock, a building contractor who arrived in Kinston in 1906 and bought the house in 1914, remodeled it in the early 1920s. He added a wraparound brick porch with a round corner pavilion and porte cochere, round-shouldered brick chimneys with arched windows, and three large brick mantels with overmantels. A Palladian attic window and modillion cornice add Classical Revival detail. Blalock designed and built many of the town's commercial and institutional buildings, and the house reflects his taste for heavy masonry. Since 1947 the building has served as a funeral home, and the changes made for that use are largely cosmetic. The house was recognized for its architecture and its link to Blalock's career.","period_of_significance":"1914-1929","architect_builder":"Blalock, Robert L.","architectural_style":"Classical Revival; Greek Revival","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Currently used as a funeral home, with a caretaker living on the second floor; changes by the funeral home operators are described as mainly cosmetic.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.221652-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/45/7181/47718145/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/89001772.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001772/fcf525e32d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89001772/fcf525e32d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tradewinds","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Robert_L._Blalock_House.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:Robert_L._Blalock_House.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718145","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Blalock_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19460567"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/lenoir-county/blalock-robert-l-house-89001772/"}