Smith, W. F., and Sons Leaf House and Brown Brothers Company Building
Also known as: Piedmont Leaf Tobacco Co.
Why it's listed
Two brick tobacco buildings face each other across Fourth Street in Winston-Salem, linked by a metal catwalk. The older, built about 1890 for W. F. Smith and Sons Leaf House, is four and a half stories with a stepped gable facade and segmental-arch windows. The second, put up between 1890 and 1895 for Brown Brothers Company, rises five stories under a mansard roof with dormers. Over the years the buildings held leaf storage, cigarette manufacturing, prizery work where tobacco was dried and packed into hogsheads, and later redrying, grading and stemming. By 1907 the American Tobacco Company owned both, and in the 1920s Piedmont Leaf Tobacco Company took them over. The nomination values them as rare surviving reminders of the city's early tobacco industry and as prominent landmarks in its streetscape. At the time of the nomination they were for sale and faced possible demolition without a new use.
Significance in brief: The nomination presents the buildings as among the few remaining reminders of Winston-Salem's late nineteenth-century tobacco industry. They housed leaf dealing, prizery, storage and processing operations over several decades. They are also described as visual landmarks in the city's skyline and character.
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 78001952, listed February 23, 1978. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 4th St. between Patterson and Linden, Winston-Salem |
|---|---|
| County | Forsyth County |
| Listed | February 23, 1978 |
| Reference number | 78001952 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 1890-1895 |
| Areas of significance | Industry, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Described as for sale, with probable demolition unless an adaptive use is found; a local wood products firm, then a tenant, was considering buying. Piedmont Leaf had moved to Tenth Street by 1976. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Coordinates | 36.09963, -80.24081 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
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 78001952.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q20679834
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.