An important vestige of downtown Roanoke‘s first major wave of urban construction, the Campbell Avenue Complex is a row of five contiguous, three-story commercial buildings erected to accommodate retail shops and offices. Built between 1892 and 1909, the structures are a reflection of many early commercial ventures and sprang up in the newly incorporated city to serve its principal industry: the Norfolk and Western Railway. Only two blocks from the railyards, the solid, urbane architecture represented a change from the saloons of Salem Avenue to a more conventional business environment. The buildings are typical of the period, blending Italianate and Neoclassical styles and employing bold sheet-metal cornices. Threatened with demolition in the late 1980s, four of the buildings in the Campbell Avenue Complex were purchased for preservation by the city with the assistance of a state grant.