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The Central Warehouse Corporation building traces its origins back to 1946. Today, the building is the second site included in Bristol’s Warehouse Historic District, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012. The Central Warehouse Corp. building shares its eastern-most wall with the western elevation of the Bristol Builders Supply Company building on the corner of Lee St. and Scott St. On their northern facades, the two buildings appear very similar from a street view, possibly even seeming to be the same building at a glance.

June 2018

June 2018

June 2018

June 2018

June 2018

June 2018

Today, the Central Warehouse Corp. building is most likely vacant or utilized for various office spaces for the City of Bristol and/or its School Division. The most notable feature of the warehouse is on its northern façade, which faces Scott St. and the remaining tracks of the Bristol Coal and Iron Narrow Gauge Railroad, which was a product of slave labor completed during the late 19th Century. On this façade is a painted and fading logo reading: “CENTRAL WAREHOUSE CORP.” An exact copy of this logo appears just around the corner from the northern façade, on the western side of the warehouse.

The northern façade of the warehouse facing Scott St. includes six bays and two elevated concrete platforms. One platform includes a sliding wooden door with a metal canopy above. Near the platform is a 30-light steel window with concrete sill. Further along this façade is a large wooden garage bay door. This façade also includes a larger window with a wooden track door above.

The western façade of the building stretches over a significant slope parallel to Lee St. On this façade is a loading dock platform and two four-panel sliding track doors. There is also an entrance on this side of the building which was once open to the public. The western façade also includes a steel and brick panel design and a metal roof canopy.

A symbol of Bristol’s economic boom experienced roughly twenty years after the end of the Civil War, the Bristol Warehouse Historic District includes an area once filled with warehouses and industrial constructions. The district, located on the Virginia side of the Bristol border, features several surviving industrial and commercial buildings constructed as early as 1880 and as late at the 1950s. The building’s official listing in the National Register of Historic Places, completed in 2012, includes six buildings and one additional contributing item.

The six buildings include an old railroad station, four warehouses, and one nearby home. The final contributing item to the Bristol Warehouse Historic District is the collection of the late 19th Century railroad tracks still visible throughout the district. These tracks were originally constructed as a product of prison labor and called the Bristol Coal and Iron Narrow Gauge Railroad.

"Bristol Warehouse Historic District." Virginia Department of Historic Resources. March 15th 2012. Accessed August 22nd 2019. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/102-5031/.

"National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Bristol Warehouse Historic District." Virginia Department of Historic Resources. May 9th 2012. Accessed August 22nd 2019. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/VLR_to_transfer/PDFNoms/102-5031_BristolWarehouseHD_2012_NRHP_FINAL.pdf.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

Google Maps street view

Google Maps street view

Google Maps street view