Downtown Greensboro Historic District (Boundary Increase and Decrease)
No coordinates published for this listing.
Why it's listed
Downtown Greensboro is a commercial district of more than a dozen blocks centred on South Elm Street, where the railroad crosses the main street. Most of its buildings date from about 1885 to 1930, when rail connections turned the city from a village into a regional trading centre. Its oldest brick commercial blocks are three stories high with corbelled cornices, while later buildings from the 1890s and 1900s use molded terra cotta and galvanized iron. The district includes the Odell Hardware Building, begun in the early 1880s and enlarged by 1896, and works by architects such as F. A. Weston and Charles Hartman. Among the landmarks from the 1920s are the Jefferson Standard Building, the Kress Building and the Carolina Theatre. The district is also linked to the 1960 Woolworth's lunch counter sit-ins, which began a protest movement across the South.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues the district contains all that remains of the central business district that developed roughly between 1885 and 1930, the city's most significant period of growth. It holds examples of commercial architecture in several styles popular in that period, and it is associated with the lunch counter sit-ins of 1960, a key event in the Civil Rights Movement.
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 100008850, listed April 20, 2023. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly bounded by Davie, North Elm, North and South Green, East and West Lewis, West Market, and West Washington Sts., East and West Friendly and Summit Aves., West Gate City Blvd, and Southern Railway right of way, Greensboro |
|---|---|
| County | Guilford County |
| Listed | April 20, 2023 |
| Reference number | 100008850 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | ca. 1885-1930 |
| Architectural style | Italianate (simplified commercial vernacular), with later Art Deco, Classical and Romanesque elements |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Transportation, Architecture, Community Planning and Development, Education, Ethnic Heritage-Black, Politics/Government, Industry, Landscape Architecture, Law, Religion, Social History |
| Level of significance | National, State, Local |
| Acreage | 41.68 |
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 100008850.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.