{"nrhp_refnum":"97001197","name":"Buncombe County Boys' Training School, (Former)","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"177 Erwin Hills Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Asheville","county":"Buncombe County","state":"NC","lat":35.62068904900008,"lon":-82.62302324099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-09-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story granite and brick Tudor Revival building at 177 Erwin Hills Road, west of Asheville in Buncombe County, North Carolina, built in 1927-1928 and designed by architect Ronald Greene. It was built as a county boys' training school and sits on a 2.79-acre parcel.","why_significant":"It is significant under Criterion A for Social History as the only county-operated juvenile reformatory in North Carolina, reflecting early twentieth-century reforms that separated young offenders from adult prisoners and stressed rehabilitation. It is significant under Criterion C for Architecture as a well-preserved example of work by Asheville architect Ronald Greene, built in a loose Tudor Revival interpretation.","narrative":"Built in 1927-1928 on a hilltop west of Asheville, this granite and brick Tudor Revival building was designed by Asheville architect Ronald Greene as the Buncombe County Boys' Training School. It has a slate hip roof, a conical-roofed stair turret, half-timbered detailing and a stone terrace across its front. Construction used prison labor and cost about $100,000. The school was the only county-run juvenile reformatory in North Carolina. Judge Carl B. Hyatt conceived it as a home-like school and farm for boys aged 10 to 16 who had committed minor offenses, as an alternative to jailing youths with adults. Superintendent Robert B. Edwards ran it from 1928 to 1941. Enrollment fell in the early 1940s, and the school closed in 1945. The building then served as the County Home for the Aged and later as a private rest home. Since 1983 it has housed a National Guard training center. The original floor plan and most exterior features survive.","period_of_significance":"1927-1945","architect_builder":"Greene, Ronald, architect","architectural_style":"Tudor Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Currently houses the North Carolina Military Academy-West, an Army National Guard training center, in use since 1983 after standing unoccupied for about five years.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.772803-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/77/7192/47719277/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/97001197.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719277","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buncombe_County_Boys%27_Training_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q17986156"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/buncombe-county/buncombe-county-boys-training-school-former-97001197/"}