{"nrhp_refnum":"98000731","name":"Friendly Hills","other_names":["Banning, Margaret Culkin, House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"140 Country Club Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Tryon","county":"Polk County","state":"NC","lat":35.22109813250006,"lon":-82.25081285454618,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-06-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Literature"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Friendly Hills is a 17.5-acre residential estate on Country Club Road just west of Tryon, Polk County, North Carolina. Its centerpiece is a large Tudor Revival house built in 1924 on a knoll, with a pool, log cabin and fish pool, and later outbuildings.","why_significant":"The house is argued to be one of the most outstanding Tudor Revival examples in an area where English revival styles were popular in the early twentieth century (Criterion C). It is also tied to author Margaret Culkin Banning, who owned it seasonally from 1936 until her death in 1982 and wrote in its log cabin (Criterion B).","narrative":"Friendly Hills is a hilltop estate of 17.5 acres at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just outside Tryon, North Carolina. Its main house, built in 1924 for Spartanburg investment banker Andrew Law, is a two-story Tudor Revival dwelling with stucco and half-timbered walls, rough stone chimneys and porches, casement windows, and a slate roof. Inside, the living room is fully paneled with exposed ceiling beams, and its stone fireplace carries an oak mantel carved by the Tryon Toymakers and Woodcarvers Shop. The grounds include a 1920s-1930s swimming pool, a small log cabin, and a stone fish pool. The property is recognized for its architecture and for its link to author Margaret Culkin Banning, who bought it in 1936 and spent part of each year here until 1982. She wrote novels and magazine pieces, some set in a fictionalized Tryon, and used the cabin as a writing retreat. Later outbuildings were designed to match the house.","period_of_significance":"1924-1947","architect_builder":"Gaines, Wright J. builder","architectural_style":"Tudor Revival","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Still used as a single dwelling; the form reports a high degree of integrity, with 1980s alterations and three newer auxiliary buildings.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:49.839811-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/56/7218/47721856/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/98000731.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721856","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Hills_(Tryon,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5504070"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/polk-county/friendly-hills-98000731/"}