A case study of the rehabilitation of Martinsville’s former Winn Dixie Grocery Store sheds light on various State & Federal historic preservation programs that have benefitted this historic Virginia community.

By Carolyn Zemanian | DHR Tax Credit Reviewer
All photographs courtesy of William Huber of Huber Architects

The Winn Dixie Grocery Store building was constructed in 1954 and was later used as the High Point Furniture Store. Between 2022 and 2024, a preservation-minded developer used historic tax credits to rehabilitate the structure into 25 apartments, two retail storefronts, and nine basement-level “makers spaces”—small, affordable workspaces available for rental to small businesses, non-profits, and artists. This project has reactivated a formerly vacant building in Martinsville’s downtown core and turned it back into a community asset.

But before the adaptive reuse of this structure could occur, the City of Martinsville proactively laid building blocks that have made historic preservation an important component of their economic development. The seeds were first sown in 2018, after Martinsville experienced damage from Hurricanes Michael and Florence. The City became one of the Virginia localities that were eligible for disaster assistance funding from the National Park Service’s Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF). DHR received $4.7 million worth of disaster funding to be disbursed—on a competitive application basis—to support planning, survey, and disaster mitigation projects in eligible cities and counties. Martinsville applied for and received funding to update and increase the boundary of the existing Martinsville Historic District, which was first listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. The survey and the updated National Register nomination documentation were completed by Commonwealth Preservation Group in 2022.

The original Martinsville Historic District recognized 98 of the City’s historic downtown resources that were constructed prior to 1948, which contained sufficient integrity to convey the historic evolution of the City up to that date. A number of these resources were associated with Martinsville’s history as a tobacco, textile, and furniture manufacturing hub. The 1998 nomination did not explore Martinsville’s mid-twentieth century history, as that era was considered (at the time) too recent for inclusion. However, Martinsville underwent a significant economic and population boom in the mid-1900s, which had a big impact on its architecture and physical growth. As noted in the 2022 Nomination Update, “from 1940 to 1970, the city’s population increased nearly 95 percent.” During this period, Martinsville housed “the largest nylon plant in the world; three of the largest manufacturers of wood furniture in the nation, including the world’s largest manufacturer; the world’s largest manufacturer of knit outerwear; the nation’s largest manufacturer of sweatshirts; the world’s largest manufacturer of Grandfather and Grandmother clocks, and Virginia’ largest upholstery factory.” As a natural consequence of their prosperity, Martinsville also became a regional leader in commercial banking.

To accommodate the new businesses and people, the architecture constructed in the City surged and changed during this midcentury period. Alongside more classical 19th- and early 20th-architectural styles, the midcentury period added buildings constructed in the International, New Formalist, Brutalist, and modern commercial styles. New design principles celebrated simple, clean lines, and then-cutting-edge materials such as aluminum and permastone. To recognize these changes, the 2022 Martinsville Historic District Update and the 2022 Boundary Increase nomination expand the district’s period of significance to 1972, acknowledging the importance of Modern architecture in telling the story of Martinsville’s physical and economic development. The 2022 nominations add 35 buildings to Martinsville’s list of contributing historic resources.

One of the benefits of a building being listed as “contributing” on the National Register of Historic Places means that it can be eligible for participation in the State and Federal Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit programs. These programs—separately administered by DHR and by the National Park Service, respectively—provide significant financial incentives to individuals who rehabilitate historic structures in accordance with best preservation practices. In the decades since their inception, both tax credit programs have led to significant financial investment in Virginia’s historic communities.

The 1954 Winn Dixie Grocery Store—previously located outside of the boundaries of the original historic district—was a beneficiary of the 2022 district expansion and became eligible for historic rehabilitation tax credits. The Martinsville Redevelopment and Housing Authority owned this building at the time of its listing and sold the vacant structure to JRS Realty Partners, a development firm that has successfully rehabilitated a number of historic buildings using the State and Federal historic tax credit programs.

The work to the Winn Dixie Grocery Store focused on preserving its historic exterior and interior fabric and character. New work included:

• The in-kind replacement of the deteriorated aluminum storefront and the preservation of the sleek Modern entrance canopy.

• The preservation of the historic metal windows, plus the addition of new windows to secondary elevations. These windows provide light to new loft apartments in the interior. The historic, unbroken cadence of the exterior walls on the structure’s more prominent, street-facing facades were preserved.

• The preservation and in-kind replacement of historic interior finishes. For example, deteriorated floor tile was replaced on the main floor of the structure, and the historic plaster wall and ceiling finishes were restored. In the basement—which was historically used as back-of-house grocery storage—industrial finishes dominate, with exposed masonry walls, sealed concrete floors, and exposed, painted metal ceiling structure.

• A complete upgrade of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems was also accomplished to accommodate the new use.

The new floorplan of the Winn Dixie Building preserves some of the generous open space that historically characterized this grocery store, through the two large retail bays at the front of the structure and the double-height hallways that wind throughout the residential portion of the building.

The rehabilitated Winn Dixie Grocery Store building retains its historic commercial character, while getting a second life as housing, small businesses, and a continued gathering place for the community. The same developer has also purchased the Piedmont Trust Bank Building—a midcentury bank building constructed in three stages from 1956 through 1971—which is located at 1 Ellsworth Avenue in the expanded historic district. This building will also be converted to mixed-use residential and commercial space. The update and expansion of the Martinsville Historic District has sparked an avenue of economic development and has increased use of the State & Federal historic tax credit programs in recent years. In the 20-year period between 1999-2019, there were 11 tax credit projects submitted for the City of Martinsville. But in the much shorter, three-year period immediately following the initial proposal and acceptance of the expanded historic district (2020-2023), four new tax credit applications were submitted.

In 2022, Martinsville also took the step of becoming a Certified Local Government, one of 38 in Virginia. This action strengthens and expands the City’s local preservation programs and comes with advantages such as qualifying Martinsville for additional grant funding for future preservation projects. The City’s CLG status also demonstrates their continued commitment to the role of historic preservation in their community.