Imperial Tobacco Company Office Building

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Imperial Tobacco Company Office Building is a commercial building at 426 N. Heritage St. in Kinston, Lenoir County, built around 1925 in the Romanesque Revival style.

Why it's listed

It was listed in the National Register in 2017, part of the Kinston Multiple Property Submission, under criterion C, with local significance in architecture, its period of significance set by construction around 1925.

Physical character

Brick walls sit on a brick foundation under a flat roof, and the facade pairs two projecting bays flanking a recessed, sidelighted entrance, plus a stair tower with an arched entrance hood. Crenellated cornices and corner piers, ornate brickwork, and inlaid white stone diamonds give the polygonal building a fortress-like look on its triangular lot; exposed steel columns support an L-shaped corridor, and the southeast stairway retains its original millwork and wood floors.

Historical context

Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain and Ireland, formed in 1901, had a Kinston processing plant running by 1902; it bought this parcel from Pinkney Arthur in 1920 and built its office and garage between 1920 and 1925. Converted into apartments in the 1980s, the building went vacant in 2003, was rehabilitated into five apartments in 2016, and was vacant at the time of its listing.