{"nrhp_refnum":"98000873","name":"Siler City High School","other_names":["Paul Braxton School"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"119 S. Third Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Siler City","county":"Chatham County","state":"NC","lat":35.723147022000035,"lon":-79.45973141599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-07-15","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story red brick Art Deco school building with a T-plan and raised basement on South Third Avenue in Siler City, Chatham County, North Carolina, built in 1922-1923 as the town's high school. The nomination includes the adjoining 1930 WPA gymnasium, an early 1930s ball field and a mid-1930s woodworking shop as contributing resources.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is the only intact Chatham County school from the 1920s-1930s consolidation era and its most architecturally distinctive example, with rare Art Deco civic styling for the county. It is also presented as the first consolidated school building in the county and a representation of statewide school reorganization.","narrative":"Built in 1922-1923 in Siler City, this two-story brick school with a T-plan and raised basement was designed by Charles Coker Wilson, a South Carolina architect who specialized in educational buildings, and constructed by local mason Bun B. Bray. Its front facade has cast-stone shields, quoins and horizontal bands, a central projecting entry bay with a stepped parapet, and an auditorium wing at the rear. Its interior retains plastered vestibule walls, molded woodwork, and an auditorium with a sloping floor and balcony. The building served as the town's high school until 1956 and was later used as an elementary school. It is regarded as the only completely intact Chatham County school from the consolidation era of the 1920s and 1930s, and one of the few civic examples of Art Deco in the county. It is also tied to the county's shift from one-room schools to larger consolidated schools.","period_of_significance":"1922-1948","architect_builder":"C.C. WILSON (architect); BUN B. BRAY (builder)","architectural_style":"Art Deco","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The main block is intact with boarded window openings, awaiting rehabilitation for adaptive reuse as a senior living facility; a ca. 1952 cafeteria addition is slated for demolition.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:40.810569-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/69/7195/47719569/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/98000873.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47719569","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siler_City_High_School","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18169405"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/chatham-county/siler-city-high-school-98000873/"}