Downtown Greensboro Historic District (Boundary Increase and Decrease)
No boundary or coordinates published for this district.
The National Park Service has not published a boundary polygon for this district; the map shows the listed properties inside it.
Why it's listed
Downtown Greensboro is a commercial district of more than a dozen blocks centred on South Elm Street, where the railroad crosses the main street. Most of its buildings date from about 1885 to 1930, when rail connections turned the city from a village into a regional trading centre. Its oldest brick commercial blocks are three stories high with corbelled cornices, while later buildings from the 1890s and 1900s use molded terra cotta and galvanized iron. The district includes the Odell Hardware Building, begun in the early 1880s and enlarged by 1896, and works by architects such as F. A. Weston and Charles Hartman. Among the landmarks from the 1920s are the Jefferson Standard Building, the Kress Building and the Carolina Theatre. The district is also linked to the 1960 Woolworth's lunch counter sit-ins, which began a protest movement across the South.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · catalog entry. Generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29).
| Period of significance | ca. 1885-1930 |
|---|---|
| Styles | Italianate (simplified commercial vernacular), with later Art Deco, Classical and Romanesque elements |
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Transportation, Architecture, Community Planning and Development, Education, Ethnic Heritage-Black, Politics/Government, Industry, Landscape Architecture, Law, Religion, Social History |
| Acreage | 41.68 |
| Boundary source | not published |
| Full listing page | Downtown Greensboro Historic District (Boundary Increase and Decrease) (property record) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.