771-783 Haywood Road

The largest commercial building in the Haywood Road corridor, the imposing two-story, flat-roof
brick Commercial Style Bledsoe Building occupies nearly three quarters of an acre at the northeast corner of Haywood Road and Mildred Avenue. Built in 1927 for James T. Bledsoe, the building is roughly a trapezoid in plan with an angled entrance at the southwest corner and a two-story shed-roof portico across the rear. The long façade along Haywood Road is subdivided by pilasters into three sections, which are in turn subdivided into structural bays with recessed entrances, plate glass storefronts topped by transoms, and paired one-over-one windows on the second story. The center section features a stepped parapet containing a concrete panel with “Bledsoe Building 1927” incised into it.

Six commercial spaces occupy the first story of the building, and the second story is composed of numerous small offices and apartments. The Bledsoe Building was rehabilitated in 2002. According to Asheville city directories, the Bledsoe Building was once occupied by plumbers, groceries, bakeries, beauty parlors, cafes, pharmacists, realty offices, furniture stores and dentists.

“Bledsoe Building, 771-783 Haywood Road. 1927,” West Asheville End of Car Line Historic District, National Register of Historic Places. Nomination by Clay Griffith.

Listen to Reid Chapman, Cathy Cleary, Lewis Lankford, and Krista Stearns (West Asheville Development, LLC) interviewed by Phyllis Lang on September 26, 2002, as part of the West Asheville History Project:

Rehabilitated 2002

Bledsoe Building, 771-783 Haywood Road, West Asheville. Photo taken 2002 by Zoe Rhine for library photo documentation. Buncombe County Special Collections, N541-5.

Published September 2024.

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