Clingman Avenue Historic District
Why it's listed
Clingman Avenue Historic District occupies about seven acres just south of Patton Avenue on the west side of downtown Asheville. Small lots, some perched on hills and others dropping steeply to the rear, hold 33 contributing houses and outbuildings and seven non-contributing buildings, with eleven vacant lots between them. Most are one-story cottages or bungalows, including hip roof, front gable and L-plan types dating from 1896 to the 1940s, along with a few larger two-story Queen Anne houses such as the 1896 C. C. Brown House. Two brick cottages on Yarrow Street, built in 1943, are exceptions to the predominantly wood frame construction. Built mainly as speculative rental housing, the neighborhood was first occupied by white tenants, including railroad workers and carpenters. From about 1911 onward African American renters and owners increasingly took over the houses, working as porters, maids, cooks and drivers. Directory research documents these occupants house by house, and the surviving buildings preserve the area's early twentieth-century character.
Significance in brief: The form describes a concentration of modest speculative rental housing that reflects the historic development of the neighborhood. The inventory traces occupants through city directories, showing the area shifting from white to African American residents and ownership, and the houses are mostly intact examples of cottage, bungalow and Queen Anne forms.
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 04000583, listed June 9, 2004. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly along Clingman Ave., from Hillard Ave. to Haywood Ave., Asheville |
|---|---|
| County | Buncombe County |
| Listed | June 9, 2004 |
| Reference number | 04000583 |
| Resource type | District |
| Architectural style | Queen Anne, bungalow, hip roof cottages |
| Areas of significance | Social History, Black |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Houses are in current single-family and secondary-structure use; eleven vacant lots exist within the district, and some buildings have altered siding or porches. |
| Acreage | 6.8 |
| Coordinates | 35.59020, -82.56314 (NPS GIS) |
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.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 04000583.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q17986541
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.