The Grove Arcade, also known as the Arcade Building, is a historic commercial and residential building in

Asheville, North Carolina Asheville ( ) is a city in Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad River, French Broad and Swannanoa River, Swannanoa rivers, it is the county seat of Buncombe County. It is the most populou ...

, in its downtown historic district. It was built from 1926 to 1929, and is a

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture, also known as mock Tudor in the UK, first manifested in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture, in rea ...

and

Late Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

style building consisting of two stacked blocks. The lower block is a rectangular slab with rounded corners; it is capped by the second block, a two-tier set-back story. The steel frame and reinforced concrete building was designed to serve as a base for an unbuilt

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

. It features a roof deck with a bronze semi-elliptical balcony, molded

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

pilasters, and a

ziggurat A ziggurat (; Cuneiform: 𒅆𒂍𒉪, Akkadian: ', D-stem of ' 'to protrude, to build high', cognate with other Semitic languages like Hebrew ''zaqar'' (זָקַר) 'protrude'), ( Persian: Chogha Zanbilچغازنجبیل) is a type of massive ...

-like arrangement of huge ramps to the roof deck. The building occupies a full city block and housed one of America's first indoor shopping malls. It was sold to the federal government in 1943. The building housed the

National Climatic Data Center The United States National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), previously known as the National Weather Records Center (NWRC), in Asheville, North Carolina, was the world's largest active archive of weather data. In 2015, the NCDC merged with two other ...

until 1995. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1976. In 1997, the City of Asheville acquired the title to the building under the National Monument Act. The city then signed a 198-year lease with the Grove Arcade Public Market Foundation, a group founded to preserve the building's structural and historical integrity. Over the next five years, the building would be restored, then reopened to the public in 2002. Today, it has shops and restaurants on the first floor, offices on the second, and residential apartments on the third through fifth floors, referred to as The Residences at Grove Arcade. E.W. Grove, developer of

Grove Park Inn The Grove Park Inn is a historic resort hotel on the western-facing slope of Sunset Mountain within the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Asheville, North Carolina. The hotel has been visited by various Presidents of the United States. Listed on the Nati ...

, wanted a "classy look to a modern palace of commercialism." The north side has

winged lion The winged lion is a mythological creature that resembles a lion with bird-like wings. Mythical adaptations The winged lion is found in various forms especially in ancient and medieval civilizations. There were different mythological adaptions ...

s without claws, a symbol of

Venice, Italy Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are linked by 438 bridge ...

Interior Gallery

File:Grove Arcade North Side Ground Floor.jpg, North side ground floor view File:Grove Arcade South Side Ground Floor.jpg, South side ground floor view File:Grove Arcade South Side 2nd Floor.jpg, South side second floor view File:Grove Arcade Staircase.jpg, Spiral staircase between first and second floors

References

External links

* Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Tudor Revival architecture in North Carolina Gothic Revival architecture in North Carolina Commercial buildings completed in 1929 Buildings and structures in Asheville, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Buncombe County, North Carolina Historic district contributing properties in North Carolina Shopping arcades in the United States {{BuncombeCountyNC-NRHP-stub