{"nrhp_refnum":"94000146","name":"Parks-Cramer Company Complex, Former","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2000 South Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Charlotte","county":"Mecklenburg County","state":"NC","lat":35.20976125000004,"lon":-80.86092410199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-03-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A former factory complex on a five-acre triangular tract in the South Boulevard industrial corridor of the Dilworth neighborhood in Charlotte, North Carolina, built in 1919 for the Parks-Cramer Company. It includes a brick manufacturing building, a shipping, receiving and pipe storage building, a rail spur line and a prefabricated steel storage building.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the complex is an important example of the textile-related industries that flourished in Charlotte and the Piedmont in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Parks-Cramer Company made humidifying and air-conditioning equipment for cotton mills, which reduced yarn breakage and machinery malfunction. It is described as one of the most significant surviving early factories in the Dilworth industrial district.","narrative":"Built in 1919 on a five-acre tract along South Boulevard in Charlotte's Dilworth industrial district, the former Parks-Cramer Company complex was constructed by E. H. Clement and Company for a firm that made industrial piping, heating, humidifiers and air-conditioning equipment, chiefly for cotton mills. The main brick manufacturing building has flat-roofed monitors and banks of steel-sash windows, and it was enlarged in the late 1920s and 1940s. A shipping and receiving building connects to it, and a rail spur from the Southern Railway serves both. A long prefabricated steel storage building stands on the west side of the spur. The company's products, based on inventions by textile engineer Stuart Warren Cramer, reduced yarn breakage and lint problems in mills across the South. The complex is regarded as one of the best surviving early factories in the district, which developed as Charlotte's principal manufacturing corridor. Renovation for retail and office use is under way.","period_of_significance":"1919-1943","architect_builder":"E. H. Clement and Company (contractor)","architectural_style":"Industrial Functionalism","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Currently undergoing renovation and adaptive reuse for retail and office use","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.977705-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/70/7213/47721370/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/94000146.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000146/a73866a7ec-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/94000146/a73866a7ec-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Bagatar","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2000_South_Blvd.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Bagatar</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:2000_South_Blvd.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721370","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_Parks-Cramer_Company_Complex","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19461795"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/mecklenburg-county/parks-cramer-company-complex-former-94000146/"}