While sometimes falling in the shadow of popular North Carolina destinations like Wilmington, the Research Triangle, or Asheville, the city of Winston-Salem, smack dab in the middle of the state, is rich with history and culture. For decades now, this former industrial center has seen its old buildings transform into new ventures, spurring a creative revival in the process. A nationally respected art museum and a James Beard–semifinalist bakery are just two of the endeavors taking hold in historic digs and looking toward the future while nodding to Winston’s roots as a tobacco and textile town.
The city’s landmark homes, factories, and even a bright yellow, shell-shaped Shell gas station have survived thanks to “a mixture of luck, happenstance, and a strong sense of community,” says Michelle McCullough, historic resource officer for the City of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. The preserved Moravian settlement of Old Salem, established in the 1760s and now a living history village and museum, was especially foundational to the town’s architectural ingenuity, she says. But the era known as the Second Industrial Revolution, roughly 1870 to 1914, also set the stage.
During this era, Winston became the birthplace of several well-known corporations, including R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, which celebrates its 150th anniversary this year, and Hanesbrands, the parent company of Hanes clothing. A few decades later, in 1937, Krispy Kreme unveiled its signature glazed doughnuts from its inaugural storefront in Old Salem. The former homes of these businesses are the building blocks for today’s revitalization projects.
Visitors “can read our neighborhoods by the architectural details and styles,” says McCullough, who leads historic tours. They might see rounded overhangs and unique fanlights above Moravian doorways, green tile roofs at the Reynolda House Museum & Gardens, as well as the handmade Carolina Red Clay bricks linked to Hanes and the renowned African-American brickmaker George H. Black.
Take a look at a few of these iconic and evolving structures.
Reynolds Building: Sleep in Art Deco Style
In 1929 R.J. Reynolds established his company headquarters in a 300-foot-tall Art Deco skyscraper in downtown Winston designed by lauded architects Shreve and Lamb. The duo later used this design as the inspiration for another monumental project: the Empire State Building. (Local legend claims the Reynolds building receives a Father’s Day card from the Empire annually, though no sources could confirm it.) Today the building features luxury apartments with incredible views, the glamorous 174-room Kimpton Cardinal Hotel, and the Katharine Brasserie + Bar, a chic oyster bar and restaurant named after R.J. Reynolds’s wife. The Reynolds Building is the skyline’s most striking vestige of the past, but the company’s and family’s influence can still be seen in buildings all over town. “What began as a vision sparked by a half-century of successful commerce,” says Kara Calderón, a senior director at Reynolds American Inc., “became the architectural foundation for a city.”
Innovation Quarter: A Parkside Destination
The crown jewel of Winston’s revamped downtown, Innovation Quarter transformed Reynolds’s former complex of tobacco factories and a decommissioned power plant into a lively commerce district featuring restaurants, bars, offices, lofts, and Wake Forest University research labs––all centered around lush Bailey Park, which is usually abuzz with events, live music, and sunset yoga. Friends and coworkers gather around the oversized picnic tables in the Coal Pit, a courtyard under the shadow of old smokestacks, and enjoy IPAs from Incendiary Brewing and pizza from Cugino Forno.
Sawtooth School for Visual Art: From Factory to Creative Haven
The jagged roof and north-facing skylights of Shamrock Mills, Hanes’s first hosiery factory, optimized sunlight for workers before industrial lighting was common. Now, this natural light fills the bustling studios of Sawtooth School for Visual Art, a nonprofit community center offering classes for all ages and skill levels. (Full disclosure: I work in the school’s marketing department.) Find weekly classes in ceramics, photography, jewelry, woodworking, and more, plus Saturday workshops and two-hour Taste of Art offerings.
Zevely House and Spring House: Fine Dining in Famed Digs
Constructed in 1815 by master cabinetmaker Van Neman Zevely, Winston’s Zevely House has all the German-influenced hallmarks of the Moravian style, including Flemish bond brick, interior end chimneys, and an almost-symmetrical facade. What’s unusual, though, is its location: The home was initially built in a patch of wilderness that, decades later, would become the north end of Winston’s downtown. (Zevely’s 1805 wedding to fellow Moravian Johanna Schober was not approved of by the congregation’s elders, forcing the newlyweds to settle far outside Salem limits.) Years after Schober’s death, Zevely moved back to Salem, and the house changed hands, withstanding the developments brought on by railroads and a growing city center. In 1974, the Zevely House was saved from demolition in dramatic fashion—by being hoisted onto the bed of a big rig and driven down narrow city streets to settle on a permanent plot in the city’s West End neighborhood. The building is now home to Bernadin’s, an upscale restaurant serving New American takes on seafood, lamb, veal, and beef. A few blocks away, the elegant Spring House serves seasonally inspired Southern dishes in the restored 1920s Bahnson House, a green-roof remnant of the era’s envious stretch of (mostly Reynolds family and friends’) homes known as “Millionaire’s Row.”
Industry Hill: An Afternoon of Brews and Tunes
Bygone furniture factories, former produce distributors, and–you guessed it–old tobacco warehouses have transformed into the new Industry Hill neighborhood. Try the hoppy hometown brews at Fiddlin’ Fish, Radar, or Wise Man; tour Broad Branch Distillery and wind down with a taste of their fine whiskey; or enjoy old-fashioned honky-tonk music and deep-fried bar food at Earl’s. For another musical option, check out the Ramkat, a bilevel, thousand-capacity venue often hosting shows by Americana heavy hitters. (Recent performers have included MJ Lenderman, Winston-born Ben Folds, and the incomparable Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings.)
Salem Bottleworks: A Burgeoning Culinary Destination
The latest transformation of a historic gem is Salem Bottleworks in the city’s up-and-coming West Salem neighborhood. This former Coca-Cola bottling plant, built circa 1929, will soon house retail shops and restaurants from some of Winston’s most talented entrepreneurs and chefs. Central to it all is the second location of Bobby Boy Bakeshop, an artisanal patisserie celebrated for its French-inspired baked goods. The new space features ample seating, a large patio, and an even larger kitchen.
More Treasures
NCMA Winston-Salem and the Hanes House have transformed James G. Hanes’s historic estate into a modern museum and picturesque music venue. The 1837 Salem Cotton Mill now houses the elegant Historic Brookstown Inn, while the 1921 Chatham Building features the downtown staple Washington Perk Grocery and the indie arthouse a/perture cinema. Stop at Lot 63 in Old Salem for a quick lunch or a great cup of coffee. Explore the 120-year-old Shotgun House in Winston’s historically Black Happy Hill neighborhood, renovated by Triad Cultural Arts and soon to become a mixed-use educational site. The Peter Oliver Pavilion Gallery, which should break ground later this year, will honor the incredibly talented formerly enslaved Moravian potter who eventually purchased and farmed land just outside Salem limits.
