{"nrhp_refnum":"89002135","name":"Alexander, Mrs. Minnie, Cottage","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"218 Patton Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.59293285100006,"lon":-82.56087152799995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1989-12-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story single-family residence on a corner lot at Patton Avenue and Pearl Street in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, built ca. 1905 and now used for professional offices. It was designed by Richard Sharp Smith, supervising architect for the Biltmore Estate.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the cottage is an intact, mature example of Smith's English-influenced \"Old English\" vernacular residential style, with pebbledash walls and heavy timber embellishments. It is described as the only early 20th century single-family house remaining on Patton Avenue, and as a dignified elaboration of Smith's Biltmore Village rental cottages.","narrative":"A two-story house with a full basement stands on a raised corner lot at Patton Avenue and Pearl Street in Asheville, built around 1905 for Minnie Alexander, wife of a jeweler. Richard Sharp Smith, supervising architect for the Biltmore Estate, drew the plans in June 1904. The walls are finished in pebbledash over split lath, with half-timbered and carved details, a hip roof with deep eaves, and a single-story porch with carved spandrels and brackets reflecting English influence. Smith's surviving drawings allowed the building to be compared closely with its original design. The house is regarded as a robust example of the vernacular style he developed while working in the Biltmore Village area. It is also the only early twentieth-century single-family residence left on Patton Avenue, now lined with commercial buildings. Its listing rests on its architecture, as an intact representative of Smith's residential work in Asheville.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1905","architect_builder":"Richard Sharp Smith (architect)","architectural_style":"\"Old English\" vernacular","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Used for professional offices after a 1988 renovation that converted the interior and basement to office space.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.105288-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/47/7191/47719147/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/89002135.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002135/936629a6f8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/89002135/936629a6f8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bill Fitzpatrick","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mrs_Minnie_Alexander_Cottage.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bill Fitzpatrick</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:Mrs_Minnie_Alexander_Cottage.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719147","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Minnie_Alexander_Cottage","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17985473"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/alexander-mrs-minnie-cottage-89002135/"}