Wright's Automatic Machinery Company

Last updated
Wright's Automatic Machinery Company
Wright's Machinery Company historic building, Durham, North Carolina, 2014.jpg
Wright's Machinery Company, August 2014
USA North Carolina location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location915 Holloway St., Durham, North Carolina
Coordinates 35°59′42″N78°53′04″W / 35.99500°N 78.88444°W / 35.99500; -78.88444
Area.397 acres (0.161 ha)
Built1942 (1942)
Built byC. C. Woods Construction Company
ArchitectAtwood and Weeks
Architectural styleModern Movement
NRHP reference No. 12001088 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 26, 2012

Wright's Automatic Machinery Company, also known as Wright Machinery Company and Wright's Automatic Tobacco Packing Machine Company, is a historic machine factory located at Durham, North Carolina.

Contents

History

It was built in 1942, and is a two-story, square, modern architecture style, stuccoed brick factory building. It features a wide ribbon of glass block underscored by a continuous concrete sill stretches across the facade at each story and recessed double-leaf entrances set into cast-concrete peaked surrounds.

Construction

The building was constructed by the Defense Plant Corporation during World War II to support the manufacturing of gunfire control equipment for the United States Navy.

Later it was used to build precision instruments here for the U. S. military and later for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. [2] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Precision Museum</span> United States historic place

The American Precision Museum is located in the renovated 1846 Robbins & Lawrence factory on South Main Street in Windsor, Vermont. The building is said to be the first U.S. factory at which precision interchangeable parts were made, giving birth to the precision machine tool industry. In recognition of this history, the building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1966. In 1987, the building was recognized by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers as an International Heritage Site, and the collection was recognized as an International Heritage Collection. For each of these designations, the armory was considered a site where pivotal events occurred in the history of American industry, as well as a place that lends itself to comprehensive interpretation of that history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chatham Manufacturing Mill</span> Textile mill in North Carolina, US

Chatham Manufacturing Mill was built by the Chatham Manufacturing Company. The former textile mill is located in Winston-Salem in North Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building</span> United States historic place

The Crescent Brass and Pin Company Building is located at 5766 Trumbull Street in Detroit, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. It is currently known as the Research Lofts on Trumbull.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broad Margin</span> Historic house in South Carolina, United States

Broad Margin is the name given to the private residence originally commissioned by Gabrielle and Charlcey Austin. It is located in Greenville, South Carolina, United States, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and was built by local builder Harold T. Newton in 1954. It is one of two buildings designed by Wright in South Carolina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trico Plant No. 1</span> United States historic place

Trico Plant No. 1 is a historic windshield wiper factory building located in Buffalo, New York. It is an example of a style of architecture sometimes referred to as the daylight factory, a style for which Buffalo is well known. The building was mostly constructed in the 1920s and 1930s of reinforced concrete and features curtain walls of metal sash windows and brick spandrels, although a portion of the plant incorporates an historic brewery building from the 1890s. It was the original home of Trico Products Corporation, the first manufacturer of windshield wipers, and was an important factory during a period when Trico was the largest employer in the city of Buffalo. The building is also known for once being the office of John R. Oishei (1886–1968), the company's founder and an industrialist who went on to become one of the most important philanthropists in the Buffalo Niagara Region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Mill Complex</span> United States historic place

The Union Mill Complex,, is located at the junction of Milton Avenue and Prospect Street in Ballston Spa, New York, United States. It is a complex of three late 19th-century brick buildings on a 4-acre lot, and the ruins of a dam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doane's Sawmill/Deep River Manufacturing Company</span> United States historic place

Messerschmidt Pond Wildlife Management Area is a tract of land in Westbrook and Deep River, Connecticut, adjacent to Cockaponset State Forest. The area includes the millpond and former site of the Deep River Manufacturing Company, which preserved a variety of historic manufacturing machinery until its demolition in 1987. The mill and an associated shed and dam were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Electric Switchgear Plant</span> Historic factory building in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The General Electric Switchgear Plant is a historic factory building located at 421 North 7th Street at Willow Street in the Callowhill neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1916, and is a seven-story, seven bay by nine bay, reinforced concrete building with brick facing. It was designed by William Steele & Company for General Electric, which manufactured electric switchboard equipment there.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">H.W. Butterworth and Sons Company Building</span> United States historic place

The H.W. Butterworth and Sons Company Building, now known as 2424 Studios, is an historic factory building which is located in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louden Machinery Company</span> American engineering, manufacturing and design company

The Louden Machinery Company was an American engineering, manufacturing and design company based in Fairfield, Iowa. Founded by William Louden, the company in its early years manufactured and sold the patented hay carrier that he invented in 1867. The company later expanded into a wide variety of farm equipment and, in 1906, began an Architecture Department that reportedly designed more than 25,000 barns from 1906 to 1939. During World War I, Louden's monorail equipment carrier began to be applied to industrial and military applications. By the 1920s, much of the company's revenues were derived from industrial applications of its monorail equipment carriers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kregel Windmill Museum</span> United States historic place

The Kregel Wind Mill Company produced water pumping windmills in Nebraska City, Nebraska starting in 1879. It is now the Kregel Windmill Factory Museum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venable Tobacco Company Prizery and Receiving Room</span> Historic industrial buildings in North Carolina, US

Venable Tobacco Company Prizery and Receiving Room is a historic tobacco prizery located at Durham, Durham County, North Carolina. The prizery was built about 1930, and is a three-story, brick building. The trapezoidal shaped, one-story, concrete block receiving room was added in 1952. It is an example of "slow burn" masonry and wood factory construction. The prizery is located adjacent to the Venable Tobacco Company Warehouse, which collectively are the only structures that remain of a larger complex.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eureka Manufacturing Company Cotton Mill</span> United States historic place

Eureka Manufacturing Company Cotton Mill, also known as Tait Yarn Company and Lincoln Bonded Warehouse Company, is a historic cotton mill located at Lincolnton, Lincoln County, North Carolina. It was built between 1907 and 1910, and is a two-story, brick factory building with a three-story stair tower. Adjacent to the factory is a two-story brick office building built between 1902 and 1906. The buildings housed the Eureka Manufacturing Company from 1906 to 1937, and Tait Yarn Company from 1949 to 1966. Lincoln Bonded Warehouse occupied the buildings into the late-1990s. The buildings are owned by the Lincoln County Historical Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Former Charlotte Coca-Cola Bottling Company Plant</span> United States historic place

Former Charlotte Coca-Cola Bottling Company Plant is a historic Coca-Cola bottling factory building located at Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It was built in 1929–1930, and is a two-story, reinforced concrete building with a red brick veneer and decorative concrete detailing and Art Deco design elements. The building has a rectangular plan measuring 110 feet by 185 feet, parapet, and Coca-Cola bottles, sculpted of precast concrete, which crown the corner pilasters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Former Daniel A. Tompkins Company Machine Shop</span> United States historic place

Former Daniel A. Tompkins Company Machine Shop is a historic factory building located at Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It was built in 1904–1905, and is a two-story, brick factory building with a rectangular plan and a small, one story ell. It was expanded in 1911 and an office section was added before 1929. The D.A. Tompkins Company was makers of textile machinery, supplies, and equipment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grinnell Company-General Fire Extinguisher Company Complex</span> United States historic place

Grinnell Company-General Fire Extinguisher Company Complex is a historic factory complex located at Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It was built in 1929–1930, and consists of a two-story office building and massive tall, one-story Grinnell manufacturing building. The office building is a reinforced concrete structure, with a brick veneer, a flat roof, and a parapet capped in concrete coping. The manufacturing building has a poured concrete slab foundation, brick veneered walls, a steel framing system consisting of I-beam piers and heavy Pratt truss roof, banks of continuous, steel sash windows, and large, sawtooth monitors. The complex was built for the largest manufacturer of automatic sprinklers and other fire protection products in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Sykes Brothers Company Building</span> United States historic place

Joseph Sykes Brothers Company Building is a historic factory building located at Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It was designed by Lockwood, Greene & Co. and built in 1926. It is a one-story building that consists of a small office section in the front and a large machine shop to the rear. The building has a brick veneer, steel sash windows, and restrained Classical Revival detailing ornamenting the facade and side. It has undergone a certified rehabilitation. It was built as the Charlotte facility of the Joseph Sykes Brothers Company, an international producer of card clothing, machinery used in cotton production.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albertson and Company-Rocklin Manufacturing Company</span> United States historic place

Albertson and Company-Rocklin Manufacturing Company is a historic building located in Sioux City, Iowa, United States. Completed in 1912, the building initially housed Automatic Valve Seating Mach Co. They reorganized in 1914 and became the Sioux City Machine and Tool Company, which produced spark plugs and tire valves. The company failed four months later and the shop foreman, Frans Oscar Albertson, formed Albertson & Co. and took over the plant. During World War I they supplied 6,000 piston rings and repair tools for munition plants for Canada. Albertson never owned the building and moved his operations to another Sioux City building in 1920. The company went on to become the largest manufacturer of portable electronic and air tools in the world. They changed their name to Sioux Tools Inc., and in 1993 they became a division of Snap-On Tools. Their manufacturing facility moved to North Carolina in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kahn Tailoring Company Building</span> United States historic place

The Kahn Tailoring Company building is a historic structure located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. It was designed by Indianapolis architects Vonnegut & Bohn and built in 1913. The building is a four-story Neoclassical style structure with reinforced concrete behind a brick veneer. The front entrance features a cornice with decorative features.

Daniel A. Tompkins was an American engineer, industrialist, and journalist.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register of Historic Places Listings". Weekly List of Actions Taken on Properties: 12/26/12 through 12/28/12. National Park Service. 2013-01-04.
  2. Cynthia de Miranda (May 2012). "Wright's Automatic Machinery Company" (PDF). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2014-10-01.