Durham Hosiery Mills No. 2-Service Printing Company Building
Why it's listed
Located at 504 E. Pettigrew Street in Durham, this tall one-story brick building is the surviving eastern part of Durham Hosiery Mills No. 2, built in 1916. Pilastered walls, tall segmental arched windows, exposed curved rafter ends and a monitor roof mark it as an early twentieth-century textile mill. The mill began production in 1904 on the site with a black workforce, which made it one of very few North Carolina mills to do so. It was part of the company founded by Julian S. Carr. The mill closed in 1929 and later served as a tobacco warehouse. Service Printing Company, begun in 1932 as a branch of The Carolina Times, moved in during 1947. The newspaper joined it in 1958 until a 1979 fire destroyed the west end. Urban renewal cleared the surrounding Hayti neighborhood in the 1960s and 1970s, leaving this building and its printing business as the area's only commercial survivors.
Significance in brief: It was one of the very few North Carolina textile mills to employ a black labor force in the early twentieth century, and it is tied to Julian S. Carr, founder of Durham Hosiery Mills. It later housed Service Printing Company, a branch of the black newspaper The Carolina Times, and is the only commercial survivor of the Hayti district after urban renewal.
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 85003055, listed November 27, 1985. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 504 E. Pettigrew St., Durham |
|---|---|
| County | Durham County |
| Listed | November 27, 1985 |
| Reference number | 85003055 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1916 |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Industry, Black |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Occupied by Service Printing Company; condition listed as fair. The west end was destroyed by fire in 1979 and the ruins were removed. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 35.98985, -78.89763 (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.
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 85003055.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q19461453
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.