{"nrhp_refnum":"92001615","name":"Commercial Building at 500 North Tryon Street","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"500 N. Tryon St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlotte","county":"Mecklenburg County","state":"NC","lat":35.230202216000066,"lon":-80.83825077299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1992-11-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story commercial building on the northeast corner of Tryon and Eighth Streets in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, built in 1921 for local developer O. J. Thies. It is an enframed window wall building with ochre decorative brick and ceramic tile.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is a rare surviving small-scale commercial building in Charlotte, and the oldest remaining one of its type on North Tryon Street. It is associated with the automobile sales boom of the 1920s and is the only known surviving small-scale commercial building and only known automobile dealership design by architect Louis H. Asbury in Charlotte.","narrative":"Built in 1921 on the northeast corner of Tryon and Eighth Streets, this two-story brick commercial block was designed by Charlotte architect Louis Asbury for developer O. J. Thies, who held it as a rental property. Its facade uses ochre decorative brick, green ceramic tile on the pilasters and pent roof, marble bulkheads and stone details, and a recessed entry with original tall upper windows. Built during Charlotte's car-sales boom, it housed automobile dealerships until 1933, after which it held a grocery, a paint store, a stamp redemption center and a piano company. The building is regarded as a rare survivor of the small-scale commercial type on North Tryon Street, and as the only known automobile dealership by Asbury. Its interior wood posts, beams, floors and two-story lobby were kept during a 1990-1992 conversion to offices.","period_of_significance":"1921-1933","architect_builder":"Louis Asbury (architect); O. J. Thies (developer)","architectural_style":"Enframed window wall building","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Renovated 1990-1992 for office use; the document states it was in good condition after renovation.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:40.629254-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/48/7213/47721348/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/92001615.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001615/e528514c81-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/92001615/e528514c81-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Mx. Granger","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commercial_Building_at_500_North_Tryon_Street,_Charlotte.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Mx. Granger</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Commercial_Building_at_500_North_Tryon_Street,_Charlotte.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721348","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Building_at_500_North_Tryon_Street","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19461101"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/mecklenburg-county/commercial-building-at-500-north-tryon-street-92001615/"}