Louise Cotton Mill (Mecklenburg County), completed by A. Neville and J. Salmon, listed 12/31/13

Louise Cotton Mill is architecturally significant in Charlotte as an intact representative example of turn-of-the-twentieth-century heavy-timber mill construction. Built in 1897 and 1901, the distinctive U-shaped textile mill counts among Charlotte's oldest industrial buildings. The 1897 western wing is a full two-story brick building with an intact monitor roof running the full length of the wing. The 1901 addition comprise two sections, a two-story connecting wing and a long one-story weaving room with a tall basement.

Old South Mebane Historic District Boundary Increase (Alamance County), completed by J. Dockery and L. Jackson, listed 12/16/13

The Old South Mebane Historic District Boundary Increase includes houses in three small clusters and one long linear section adjacent to the Old South Mebane Historic District (NR 2011) in the city of Mebane. The boundary increase is similar to the original historic district in boasting a wide array of domestic architectural styles from the early twentieth century through the early 1960s, including the Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Period Cottage, Minimal Traditional, Ranch, and Modernist styles.

Fort Caswell Historic District (Brunswick County), completed by J. Mitchell, listed 12/31/13

Located at the southeast tip of Oak Island, Fort Caswell functioned as a guardian of blockade runners during the Civil War and had a role in the monitoring of German submarines off the east coast of the United States during World War II. The ninety-one buildings and structures in the Fort Caswell Historic District reflect the installation's transformation from a military outpost, begun in the early nineteenth century, to a religious retreat center and camp established in the mid-twentieth century.

Hillside Park High School (Durham County), completed by J. Mitchell, listed 12/30/13

Hillside Park High School (most recently known as J. A. Whitted Junior High School), a Classical Revival-style, brick school that dates to 1922, was the first high school for African Americans in Durham. Located in the historic African American community of Hayti, the school chronicles the advancement of African American education in Durham during the early and mid-twentieth century in the context of a segregated school system. Built in 1954-1955, a three-story brick, T-shaped addition with a one-story-on-basement gymnasium rear wing connects to the east end of the original school. This addition resulted from the school's 1950 conversion to an elementary school as well as the Durham Board of Education's efforts to satisfy a lawsuit that successfully challenged Durham's inequities in funding African American schools at a level similar to white schools.

James D. and Frances Sprunt Cottage (New Hanover County), completed by B. Keane, listed 12/18/13

The 1937 James D. and Frances Sprunt Cottage exemplifies stylish beach cottages constructed in Wrightsville Beach during the early twentieth century by well-to-do residents of neighboring Wilmington. The elevated two-story, three-bay frame cottage is notable for its retention of characteristics associated with the architecture and coastal way of life of Wrightsville Beach during the first half of the twentieth century. These features include cedar-shingle sheathing and a main-level porch with an upper deck on the east elevation and a double-tier wraparound porch on the west and south elevations providing spacious areas to enjoy the cooling breezes off the ocean and the sound.

Valentine-Wilder House (Nash County), completed by J. Mitchell, listed 12/31/13

The Valentine-Wilder House, located just outside the town of Spring Hope, is one of a small group of early twentieth-century Rustic Revival-style log houses built in the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina. The house was built c. 1925 by Itimous Thaddeus Valentine, who practiced law in Nash County, served in WWI and WWII, and was an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. The log house was constructed using corner notching of the logs in the saddle-notch configuration, the most widely used system from this time period. Notable interior features include a staircase with a balustrade composed of slender, cypress logs as balusters, a pine log handrail, and newel posts of more substantial cedar trunks.

Eureka Manufacturing Company Cotton Mill (Lincoln County), completed by J. Harpe, listed 12/18/13

Eureka Manufacturing Company Cotton Mill in Lincolnton is historically important for its contributions to the industrial history of the Lincoln County seat. The mill property stands close to downtown and includes two buildings -- a two-story brick office/dyehouse built sometime between 1902 and 1906, and a large two-story brick mill building erected shortly thereafter. In 1910, a visitor reported that the company made coarse yarns from floor sweepings at other mills. The mill was in yarn production between ca. 1910 and 1937 and again from 1949 to 1966.

Flat Top Estate (Watauga County), federal nomination, listed 12/24/13

Flat Top Estate, the western mountain home of Greensboro textile magnate Moses Cone, reflects the wealth and social status Cone gained from his extensive textile enterprises. With his brother Ceasar Cone, Moses Cone was an innovator who introduced denim manufacturing to the South and transformed numerous aspects of the textile industry in the late nineteenth century. The estate is also of statewide importance in the area of social history as a private family retreat encompassing thousands of acres featuring a designed network of carriage roads. Flat Top Manor, the impressive 1899-1900 Colonial Revival-style house that anchors the estate, is among North Carolina's most distinctive and academic examples of the period architectural style.

248-250 Middle St. before and after rehabilitation

Craven County, New Bern, 248-250 Middle Street

The ca. 1915 two-story commercial building at 248-250 Middle Street in the New Bern Historic District was rehabilitated in 2005-2011 for a retail tenant on the first floor and mezzanine and a private residence on the second floor. This project was spurred by the use of the federal and state income-producing historic tax credits with a private investment rehabilitation cost of $82,000.

Wilmington Creates Guide to Local African American Sites

More Than 6,000 Acres of Orton Plantation Now Protected by Easements 

Secretary Jewell Nominates World Heritage Site

What do you think is worth preserving?  Is it just the architecturally stunning buildings or is it the building that tells a compelling story? Click here to read a thought-provoking blog. 

Buildings That Were Lost in 2013

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