Louise Cotton Mill Charlotte, North Carolina

Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.

Louise Cotton Mill meets National Register of Historic Places Criterion C in the area of Architecture as an important example of textile mill architecture in Charlotte. When it was built in 1897 it was the largest cotton mill in Charlotte. 9 It was substantially enlarged in 1901 and the additions created aU-shaped plan with courtyard, which was not found in other Charlotte mills. 10 The use of slow-burning construction methods, brick construction, heavy-timber framing, large and plentiful windows and monitor roofs with clerestory windows in the original mill and its additions represent the best practices of textile mill design and technology at the time for dealing with fire resistance, structural strength, vibration, natural light, and ventilation. It is one of only three intact cotton mills that survive in the city from the late nineteenth century and one of two surviving mills that were built or expanded in 1901. It retains significant architectural integrity of its historic location, association, setting, feeling, design, materials, and workmanship. Louise Mill operated as a cotton mill from 1897 until 1957, when it was closed. The period of significance is from 1897, the date that the original building was completed, until 1901, the year the mill was enlarged.