{"nrhp_refnum":"96000481","name":"Asheville High School","other_names":["Lee Edwards High School"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"419 McDowell St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.571742836000055,"lon":-82.55231919647647,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1996-04-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Asheville High School is a school campus district at 419 McDowell Street in Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The main building was completed in 1929 and designed by architect Douglas Ellington, with a heat plant, landscape plan and ballfield.","why_significant":"The text provided is truncated and contains only the description section, so the nomination's significance argument is not stated. The description presents the 1929 Art Deco/Italian Renaissance building by Douglas Ellington as retaining a remarkable degree of original integrity. Its Ellington-designed landscape and ballfield are counted as contributing parts of the district.","narrative":"Asheville High School occupies a natural promontory above McDowell Street, just south of downtown Asheville. Designed by Douglas Ellington and completed in 1929, the three-story, steel-framed building combines Art Deco and Italian Renaissance elements. Its walls are rough-cut pink granite, the roofs are tile, and the gutters and roof ventilators are copper. A hexagonal central rotunda with a ten-sided entry loggia anchors the plan, and academic, auditorium/cafeteria, gym and shop wings radiate from it. The district includes four contributing resources: the main building, the original heat plant, Ellington's terraced landscape plan, and the ballfield he planned in 1929 and that was built in 1934. Ten later resources, including bleachers, a track, a press box and a maintenance shop, are considered non-contributing. The only major addition is a 1974 media center joined to the rear by a covered walkway. The description notes that the school retains a high degree of its original architectural integrity and is still used for education.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Douglas Ellington","architectural_style":"Art Deco / Italian Renaissance","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a school; the original 1929 heat plant still heats the main building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:49.77155-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/7192/47719230/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/96000481.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000481/5de802c331-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/96000481/5de802c331-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jen G. Bowen","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Asheville_HS.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jen G. Bowen</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:Asheville_HS.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719230","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asheville_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4804917"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/asheville-high-school-96000481/"}