Then and now: what Charlotte’s buildings used to be

Charlotte doesn’t preserve buildings so much as re-employ them. The ones that survived did so by changing jobs: a mint became a museum, mills became apartments and a wedding venue, a pump house became a restaurant, a funeral home grew a coffee shop. This guide is a list of what things used to be, with the dates linked and the businesses that occupy them now linked to the directory. It’s the companion to the Lost Charlotte guide, which covers the ones that didn’t make it.

A mint, then a museum

The U.S. branch mint on Mint Street opened in 1837 to coin the gold coming out of the ground around Charlotte; it was a Confederate headquarters and hospital in the war (Google Arts & Culture). Facing demolition in 1933, it was carefully dismantled and reconstructed on Randolph Road, opening in 1936 as North Carolina’s first art museum (Charlotte’s Got A Lot). The Mint Museum is the oldest and best example of Charlotte moving a building rather than losing it. Our read: it’s also the only time the city has physically picked up a landmark and carried it three miles, and it should try again.

A mill, then apartments

Highland Park Manufacturing Company’s Mill No. 3, at 2901 North Davidson, opened in 1903 as the state’s first electric-powered textile mill and, briefly, its biggest cotton factory; the four-story tower with its crenelated parapet is on the National Register (Wikipedia, Charlotte Mecklenburg Library). It is now market-rate apartments; the Mecklenburg Mill across 36th Street became affordable housing and the Johnston Mill is being converted with about 230 units (Charlotte Urban Institute). The Hoskins Mill on the west side, 1903-04, listed in 1988, survived in original condition with its wooden window sash intact while most Southern mills bricked theirs over for air conditioning (Wikipedia, History South). The mill village guide has the whole story. NoDa Brewing sits among the converted mills.

A mill, then a wedding

Concord’s Gibson Mill, one of the great Cabarrus County textile plants, is now City Club at Gibson Mill, which its site describes as a private venue in a meticulously restored mill blending historic charm with modern elegance. The Manor at Serenade Farm and the Brawley Estate are old properties in second careers, and Alexander Homestead is a century-old Queen Anne Victorian on eight acres inside Charlotte, hosting weddings under Wedgewood’s management. The event business has saved more old Charlotte buildings than the landmarks commission has; the event spaces guide lists them.

A pump house, then a restaurant

The Pump House in Rock Hill serves Southern food and cocktails in a five-story former pump house on the Catawba River, per its site. A water-works building on a riverbank is, it turns out, the best restaurant site in York County. Barrister’s occupies the Esquire Hotel in Gastonia. Piedmont Delicatessen on East Main in downtown Gastonia hides a speakeasy behind a cigarette machine, which is a building’s second life inside a building.

A funeral home, then a coffee shop

Coffin House Coffee operates inside Hartsell Funeral Home north of downtown Concord. It isn’t a conversion; the funeral home is still a funeral home. It’s an addition, and the fact that it works says something about Concord. Richard’s Coffee Shop in Mooresville became a living military museum without ceasing to be a coffee shop.

A mall, then a field

Eastland Mall opened in 1975 as the largest mall in North Carolina, closed in 2010 and was demolished starting in October 2013; the 80-acre city-owned site on Central Avenue is planned for a mixed-use development with a major league soccer facility (Wikipedia, Charlotte Urban Institute). It’s a then-and-now in progress. Charlotte FC‘s training facility is the “now.” The malls that still stand, Concord Mills with its aquarium and escape room, Rock Hill Galleria and Carolina Mall, are reinventing in place.

A hospital, then a landmark

Old St. Peter’s Hospital, the Carolina Theatre and the old Charlotte Coliseum are among the buildings the Historic Landmarks Commission has protected since 1973 (Charlotte Urban Institute); the Coliseum is now the Bojangles Coliseum and the Carolina Theatre reopened as a performance hall after decades dark. Blumenthal Arts programs the theaters; the Belk Theater is the new one.

A school, then a question

The Midwood school on Central Avenue in Plaza Midwood, the Atherton Millhouse in Dilworth, the Grier House in Steele Creek and the Thrift Mill near the Whitewater Center all faced demolition applications in December 2024 (WFAE). Each is a then without a now yet. Old schools convert well, as the apartment developers in the ring towns have shown; whether Midwood gets that chance is the current chapter.

Reading a Charlotte building

Brick with big arched windows and a tower: a mill, 1890 to 1920, probably apartments now. White frame with a T-shaped plan: a mill house, probably a rental. Buff brick and granite Uptown: a 1920s bank or hotel, and if it’s still standing it’s rare. A Victorian with a wraparound porch: Fourth Ward or Dilworth, restored in the 1970s or 1980s. A low brick box on Central Avenue: a 1950s strip that’s now a taqueria, which is the best second life in the city. The Charlotte Museum of History teaches the rest, and Uptown Funk Tour walks it. Know a building’s old job? Tell us.