Kinston Commercial Historic District (Additional Documentation)

Downtown Kinston's commercial core was enlarged by adding blocks around North Queen, North Herritage, Blount and North streets to an earlier historic district. The combined district is roughly H-shaped and holds 65 resources, 43 of them in the expansion area. Buildings are mostly one- and two-story brick structures set flush with the sidewalk and sharing common walls, dating largely from the 1920s and 1930s. Details include corbelled cornices, quoins, keystones and multipaned transoms. The c. 1935 Carolina Theatre has a streamlined Art Deco facade of cream and black tile, and the Smart & Thrifty store received a 1938 Moderne marble front. Industrial and automobile-related buildings, such as the Ellis Carriage Factory and the Spence Motor Company Building, reflect how the growing use of the automobile drove commercial growth. The district also includes the individually listed Sumrell and McCoy Building and the railroad depot. Buildings were rated contributing or noncontributing by age and the degree of alteration.