{"nrhp_refnum":"97001593","name":"Royal Baking Company","other_names":["NCSHPO file no. WA 2503"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3801 Hillsborough St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Raleigh","county":"Wake County","state":"NC","lat":35.794007460000046,"lon":-78.68815804899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-12-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story brick baking plant at 3801 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, Wake County, North Carolina, completed in 1941 and expanded around 1946-47, designed by the W. E. Long Company and built by James A. Davidson.","why_significant":"The plant is argued to be significant under Criterion A in the area of industry. It reflects Raleigh's industrial expansion after the Great Depression and the move of industrial construction from the urban core to arteries such as Hillsborough Street. It housed the Royal Baking Company's bread operations, including the \"Bamby\" brand.","narrative":"Built in 1941 on Hillsborough Street across from Meredith College, this one-story brick bakery was designed by the W. E. Long Company of Chicago, specialists in bakery design, and built by Raleigh contractor James A. Davidson. Its front office block uses blond brick in horizontal bands and metal ribbon windows with International-style character. Behind it, steel bow trusses span the machinery floors, and a westward addition followed around 1946-47. The Royal Baking Company, founded in 1916 by Bartholomew Streb, moved its bread and roll production here from downtown and baked the well-known Bamby bread. The plant is tied to industrial growth on Raleigh's western edge during the 1930s and 1940s, when firms sought less crowded sites near the Southern Railroad. After the Streb family sold the business in the mid-1950s, national bakery chains ran it until baking ended in 1985. The plant is now stripped of machinery, and rehabilitation as retail shops is planned.","period_of_significance":"1941-1947","architect_builder":"Long, W. E., Company (architect); Davidson, James A. (builder)","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: Art Deco/International Style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Baking ceased in 1985 and the building served as a warehouse and distribution center until 1996. All machinery has been removed. The new owner plans to rehabilitate it as retail shops.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.311541-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/67/7226/47722667/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/97001593.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001593/58b01b23b2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97001593/58b01b23b2-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Mx. Granger","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Royal_Baking_Company_1.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:Royal_Baking_Company_1.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722667","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Baking_Company","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q23020379"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/wake-county/royal-baking-company-97001593/"}