Broadway Market Building
Why it's listed
Built around 1916 at 201 Broadway, just north of downtown Asheville, this two-story building combines two retail spaces on the ground floor with apartments above. Its walls are hand-pressed panel-face concrete block with beveled edges, topped by a low hip roof. A recessed second-story porch faces the street. Inside, original wood floors and pressed tin ceilings survive on the first floor. J. M. Burton, a carpenter, acquired the lot in 1915 and opened a grocery here, and a meat market later shared the space. Later owners, including the Young family, ran a grocery until 1968. A community ministry used the building from the late 1970s into the early 1990s, and it has been vacant since 2000. It was listed for architecture because both its type and its material are rare survivors in Asheville and Buncombe County, and it shows how inexpensive pressed concrete block spread in the early twentieth century.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues it is a rare surviving example in Asheville and Buncombe County of a freestanding mixed-use building made of panel-face concrete block. It is eligible under Criterion C for architecture as an intact example of a significant building type and construction material.
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) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 05000939, listed September 1, 2005. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 201 Broadway, Asheville |
|---|---|
| County | Buncombe County |
| Listed | September 1, 2005 |
| Reference number | 05000939 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | Ca. 1916 |
| Architect / builder | Unknown |
| Architectural style | OTHER/Concrete block construction |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The building has stood vacant since 2000; the second floor has been gutted to the wall studs. |
| Acreage | 0.1 |
| Coordinates | 35.60120, -82.55595 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
For an income-producing building, listing (individually or as a contributing building in a district) is the gateway to the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit on qualified rehabilitation costs, often stackable with state credits. Work claiming the credit must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards and be approved in advance.
Listing does not restrict a private owner acting without federal money or permits; where federal funding or licensing is involved, Section 106 review applies.
Noted as vacant in the nomination. Nomination documents can be decades old; current status may differ. If you are considering buying an empty listed property, read the due-diligence checklist.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 05000939.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q17986100
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.