South Carolina Department of Archives and History
National Register Properties in South Carolina

Montgomery Building, Spartanburg County (187 N. Church St., Spartanburg)
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Left Oblique Right Oblique Facade
Entrance
Right Elevation Right Rear
Elevation
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Facade
Bay Window
Detail
Facade
Bas Relief
Detail
Facade
Capital Detail
Facade
Entrance
Detail
Interior
Arcade
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Interior
Arcade
Pegasus Capital
Detail
Interior
Theater
First Floor
Interior
Theater
Balcony Level
Interior
Theater
Ventilator Grill
Interior
Theater
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Interior
Proscemium Arch
and Decorated
Panel

The Montgomery Building, built in 1924, is significant in the areas of commerce and entertainment/recreation for its association with the commercial and entertainment history of Spartanburg from 1924 to 1958, including its association with the development of the post-1920s textile industry and with the Montgomery family, textile leaders in the South for more than 150 years. It is also significant architecturally as an excellent example of a Chicago skeletal frame construction skyscraper with a highly developed limestone facing, including more than 22,900 square feet of limestone-faced area on its western elevation. Well-known tenants flocked to the Montgomery Building. Many were textile companies but there were also many other cotton brokers and factories who had offices in the Montgomery Building. The building also housed a theatre/auditorium space, and a radio station. The elaborate theatre opened with little fanfare but featured an interior box office, thirty-six foot wide proscenium, chandeliers, and a large balcony. It is the only historic movie theater remaining in Spartanburg. The Montgomery Building is a ten-story, nine-bay-wide skyscraper designed by Lockwood Greene & Company, an architectural and engineering firm from Boston, Massachusetts, that played a key role in the early development of the textile industry in Spartanburg. Lockwood Greene also owned one seventh of the total shares in the building and was a tenant from 1924 until 1966. The Montgomery Building was the tallest building in Spartanburg until the 1950s. Listed in the National Register May 25, 2011.

View the complete text of the nomination form for this National Register property.

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