Newberry

The first banking institution in Newberry was established here ca. 1852. this rectangular stuccoed building is brick with a stepped gable and an egg and dart motif on the cornice. The windows are in recessed arches. (Source: Newberry Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1974).

Built in 1901, this polychrome Romanesque Revival edifice was designed by famed architect Reuben Harrison Hunt of Chattanooga, Tennessee and constructed by C.C. ("Cam") David at a cost of $12,000. The church commands a full city block. The asymmetrical building rises from a lower facade of natural granite to white crick facing its left one story turret, recessed center and right three-story square bell tower. Terra cotta belt courses encircle the bell tower below and above two narrow windows on the second floor. The belfry design, on each elevation, four narrow arched openings below a tiled pyramid roof with corner tiled pinnacles. Additions to the church since 1930 extent the rear and right rear of the building. (Newberry Historic District National Register Nomination Form, 1974)

In the center of the public square stands the fourth of five courthouses built for Newberry County. Designed by Jacob Graves, it was constructed ca. 1850 of stuccoed brick in the Greek revival style. Six fluted Tuscan columns support a massive pediment that contains a Reconstruction-era bas relief. There is an intricate Doric entablature and a central stairway with iron railings. The building is surrounded by a landscaped square with carriage-type street lights. (Newberry Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1974)

Constructed in 1908 at the cost of $50,000, this monumental building of red brick and terra cotta was designed by noted architect Frank P. Mil burn in the neoclassical style. The building consists of a central rectangular block, three stories above a basement, with matching west and south colossal porticos. The porticos have coupled brick Ionic columns with swags suspended from the volutes of the column capitals. The full entablature features a paneled frieze and a cornice with dentils and heavy modi 11 ions. The cornice is repeated in the pediments of the two porticos. The west elevation displays wood-framed tripartite windows with console detailing on each floor. Wood panel insets connect the first and second floor windows, with molded pediments surmounting the central lower floor windows. Contractor for the building was George W. Waring of Columbia, S.C. In 1938 the building was enlarged with a matching red brick rear addition, designed by Columbia, S.C., architect and Newberry County native Heyward S. Singley. (Newberry Historic District National Register Nomination Form, 1974)

Former Newberry-Saluda Regional Library. This Renaissance Revival building was built in 1911 as the Newberry Post Office with James Knox Taylor as superintending architect. It remained in continuous use as the city's post office until 1962 and in 1966 was acquired by the library board for conversion as a regional library. The building is a massive stone and brick rectangular structure on a raised basement under a hipped tile roof with flared overhangs. The facade is composed of a five-bay Doric arcade in antis, built of stone, flanked by brick pavilions with single pedimented windows. The central entrance is approached by twin flights of stone stairs. A bracketed entablature, with polychrome paneled soffits, is superimposed above the arcade and pavilions. (Newberry Historical District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1980)

The Newberry Hotel was opened by 1880 and is of stylized Romanesque revival design. The first floor is rusticated and a corner tower overlooks the public square. No longer used as a hotel, it now houses offices and business establishments. (Newberry Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1974)

This ca. 1918 commercial building, of five stories faced in yellow brick and ornamented with colored tiles, was the city's first skyscraper. Designed by Newberry architect Ernest Summer for Henry L. Parr, the building was designed for the first floor to be used for the Exchange Bank with the upper stories to be used as rental offices. Features of the building include a projecting molded cornice, a series of paired one over one windows on each floor, and a pedimented entrance way of stone on the south facade (Main Street). (Source: Newberry Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1980)

The Ritz Theater is a two-story, stone veneer and concrete building constructed in the Art Deco style in 1936. The side and rear facades are of random course limestone veneer. The main fa9ade has an exterior of stucco and black and white Carrara glass panels. The building's storefront has two, first floor businesses in the 1509 and 1513 locations which flank the recessed entrance of the theater. Both of the storefronts have original multi-light, glass and wood doors. The display windows on these storefronts originally had octagonal design display windows but these windows were remodeled with the existing rectangular aluminum and glass windows ca. 1945. The theater has a recessed entrance with two pairs of original, twelve-light glass and wood doors. Flanking the entrance are original display cases for the theater and they are of copper and glass design. The building has an original marquee of glass, metal and wood. Some added signage panels have been applied to the marquee. In the upper fasade are nine window bays. With the exception of the south window bay, each has original, rectangular, four-light wood sash windows. Except for the central window, the upper sashes have unusual diagonal design lights. Dividing the fa?ade are original, fluted concrete pilasters with streamlined capitals. The exterior retains its original stucco and Carrara glass panels. The interior of the theater was remodeled in 1989 with wood floors, wall paneling and dropped ceilings in the lobby area. The seating area has original wood floors, light fixtures, chairs, painted wood wall panels and paneled wood ceilings. The theater was built to seat 800 persons in the main floor area and the balcony, and the building retains its original proscenium arch. (Source: Newberry Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1974)

One-story brick building. The building housed the Claussen's Bread Company for many years. The building has six storefronts. The south storefront has ca. 1975, aluminum and glass double doors and display windows. Another storefront has ca. 1980, added double wood doors for vehicular access. The remaining storefronts are original with brick bulkheads, glass and wood display windows and three-light, rectangular transoms. Entrances have original, three vertical light and three panel glass and wood doors and single-light and three panel glass and wood doors. The interior partition walls are of hollow core tile. The interiors have added ceiling and floor finishes. Above each storefront are recessed rectangular panels. At the roof line is a corbelled brick cornice. (Source: Newberry Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 2004)

The Opera House, designed by G.L. Normann as a brick Gothic-derived structure, was constructed in 1882. It served for many years as the center of cultural and civic activities for Newberry. (Source: Newberry Historic District National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1974)