Queen-Gordon Streets Historic District
Why it's listed
Kinston's central commercial core, centred on the intersection of North Queen and Gordon streets, forms this district of twenty-three buildings on about seven acres. Most were erected after a fire in February 1895 destroyed two blocks of the business district, and many date from the first decades of the 20th century. The district includes three bank buildings at the intersection, among them a six-story Renaissance Revival bank of 1924 designed by Benton and Benton of Wilson. Its anchors are the Gordon Street Christian Church, a tan-brick Romanesque Revival building of 1912-1915, and a limestone Neo-Classical Revival federal post office built in 1915. The buildings are listed for their architecture and for their representation of the city's commercial growth. The district holds the largest group of relatively intact buildings of this kind in the central business district, though many shopfronts have been changed and some facades covered.
Significance in brief: The district is regarded as the most concentrated collection of relatively intact late 19th and early 20th century commercial and institutional buildings in Kinston. Its buildings reflect the city's growth from 1890 to 1939 as a commercial and tobacco-market centre in eastern North Carolina, and include a federal post office and a major church built in popular period styles.
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 89001765, listed November 8, 1989. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Roughly N. Queen and Gordon Sts., Kinston |
|---|---|
| County | Lenoir County |
| Listed | November 8, 1989 |
| Reference number | 89001765 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1895-1939 |
| Architect / builder | Benton & Benton (architects, Wilson); Robert L. Blalock (builder/contractor); Oscar Wenderoth (Treasury Department supervising architect, federal post office) |
| Architectural style | Romanesque Revival, Beaux Arts, Classical Revival, Neo-Classical Revival, Renaissance Revival, Italianate, Tudor Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Building condition ranges from fair to good; about half of the contributing buildings have been altered, mainly through shopfront remodeling; several facades are covered with metal screens or veneer. |
| Within district | Kinston Commercial Historic District (Additional Documentation) |
| Coordinates | 35.26207, -77.58080 (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 89001765.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q19987704
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.