West Selma Historic District
Why it's listed
West Selma is a residential district of about ninety acres on the west side of downtown Selma, a railroad town in North Carolina's Coastal Plain. Its 273 resources are mostly houses built between about 1880 and 1961, with a smaller number of churches, commercial buildings, a former women's club and a historic cemetery. The district takes its character from the railroad, which brought settlers and tastes to the town after the Atlantic Coast Line line arrived in 1892. Its houses display a broad sequence of styles, from the Queen Anne dwellings of the 1890s, such as the 1897 Etheridge House, to transitional Queen Anne-Colonial Revival houses and the Southern Colonial William E. Smith House of about 1912. Later examples include Georgian Revival and Period Cottage houses. The district is significant for this architectural range and for the high degree of integrity its buildings retain, which is why it was listed for its architecture.
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. 1880-1961 |
|---|---|
| Styles | Queen Anne, Gothic Revival, Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Period Cottage, Minimal Traditional, Ranch, I-house, Triple-A |
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Acreage | 90 |
| Boundary source | NPS cultural-resource GIS polygon |
| Full listing page | West Selma Historic District (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.