{"nrhp_refnum":"94000569","name":"Kinston Commercial Historic District (Additional Documentation)","other_names":["Queen--Gordon Streets Historic District (Boundary Increase)"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by East and West Caswell, West Gordon, North Herritage, East King, North McLewean, and South Queen Sts; Spruce Alley, and the railroad right-of-way","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kinston","county":"Lenoir County","state":"NC","lat":35.262329678500066,"lon":-77.5813060055523,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1994-06-03","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Industry","Social History","Politics/Government"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A downtown commercial historic district in Kinston, Lenoir County, North Carolina, expanding the earlier Queen-Gordon Streets Historic District along North Queen, North Herritage, East and West Blount, and East and West North streets. Most buildings date from the first third of the twentieth century.","why_significant":"The expansion adds a second commercial focus to downtown Kinston and takes in two individually listed properties. The visible text does not include the Section 8 statement, but the description ties the area's development to commercial growth fueled by the automobile. It presents a cohesive group of brick commercial, industrial and service buildings in Romanesque, Art Deco and Commercial styles.","narrative":"Downtown Kinston's commercial core was enlarged by adding blocks around North Queen, North Herritage, Blount and North streets to an earlier historic district. The combined district is roughly H-shaped and holds 65 resources, 43 of them in the expansion area. Buildings are mostly one- and two-story brick structures set flush with the sidewalk and sharing common walls, dating largely from the 1920s and 1930s. Details include corbelled cornices, quoins, keystones and multipaned transoms. The c. 1935 Carolina Theatre has a streamlined Art Deco facade of cream and black tile, and the Smart & Thrifty store received a 1938 Moderne marble front. Industrial and automobile-related buildings, such as the Ellis Carriage Factory and the Spence Motor Company Building, reflect how the growing use of the automobile drove commercial growth. The district also includes the individually listed Sumrell and McCoy Building and the railroad depot. Buildings were rated contributing or noncontributing by age and the degree of alteration.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"L.L. Mallard of Kinston (architect of the A & P Food Store Building, c. 1930)","architectural_style":"Romanesque, Art Deco, Commercial Style","criteria":[],"status_note":"Many buildings remain in commercial use, and a few vacant lots exist. The expansion area has 30 contributing and 13 noncontributing resources.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:48.845314-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/55/7181/47718155/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/94000569.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"89001765","name":"Queen-Gordon Streets Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/queen-gordon-streets-historic-district-89001765/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718155","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinston_Commercial_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19462790"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/lenoir-county/kinston-commercial-historic-district-additional-documentation-94000569/"}