Riverside Historic District

Riverside is a neighborhood of about 25 blocks in northeast New Bern, running along the Neuse River and centered on National Avenue, a street that led to the National Cemetery. Subdivisions platted in 1894 and 1912 turned farmland into the city's first suburb. The district holds 178 contributing buildings, mostly one- and two-story frame houses in Queen Anne, Classical Revival, Craftsman and Colonial Revival styles. Many follow the narrow, deep side-hall plan common in New Bern, and builders placed them close together and near the street. The oldest is the 1894 William R. Guion House, with its mansard roof. Architect Herbert Woodley Simpson is credited with the Prairie-style William Dunn House and the Robert Turnbull House. Other notable buildings include the 1922 Italian Renaissance Riverside Graded School, the Gothic Revival-influenced Riverside Methodist Church of 1919-1920, and several small commercial and industrial buildings. Despite some alterations, the area keeps its original layout, mature trees and early twentieth-century character.