Wright's Automatic Machinery Company
Also known as: Wright Machinery Company; Wright's Automatic Tobacco Packing Machine Company
Why it's listed
Built in 1942 at the northwest corner of Holloway and Calvin streets in Durham, this two-story masonry plant was erected by the Defense Plant Corporation for Wright's Automatic Machinery Company. Designed by Atwood and Weeks and built by C. C. Woods Construction Company, the building cost $462,415.45 and covered about 106,000 square feet. Its open interior, with two workspaces flanking a central service core, allowed layouts to change with wartime needs. Working as a subcontractor to Ford Instrument Company, a Sperry Corporation subsidiary, the company produced gunfire control equipment for the U.S. Navy here. Wartime employment reached 1,200 workers, many of them women hired for the first time, and the plant received the Army-Navy E award in 1943. After the war, the plant continued producing precision components for military programs and, from 1960, for NASA spacecraft. The building is regarded as a rare surviving World War II industrial structure in Durham.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the plant is significant for its role in the federal-industry collaboration that supplied the military in World War II, when the company built gunfire control equipment for the U.S. Navy as a subcontractor. It also documents the company's wartime expansion and training of a largely new workforce, and its postwar military and aerospace work under Sperry Rand.
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 12001088, listed December 26, 2012. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 915 Holloway St., Durham |
|---|---|
| County | Durham County |
| Listed | December 26, 2012 |
| Reference number | 12001088 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1942-1962 |
| Architect / builder | Atwood and Weeks (architect); C. C. Woods Construction Company (builder) |
| Architectural style | Modern Movement |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Military, Industry |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Acreage | 2.2 |
| Coordinates | 36.01118, -79.99320 (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 12001088.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q21016364
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.