The Arras

Asheville ( ASH-vil) is a city in, and the county seat of, Buncombe County, North Carolina, United States. Located at the confluence of the French Broad and Swannanoa rivers, it is the largest city in Western North Carolina, and the state's 11th-most-populous city. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 94,589, up from 83,393 in the 2010 census. It is the principal city in the three-county Asheville metropolitan area, which had a population of 469,015 in 2020.

The Vance Monument was a late 19th-century granite obelisk in Asheville, North Carolina, that memorialized Zebulon Vance, a former North Carolina governor from the area. The monument was designed by architect Richard Sharp Smith and was an "iconic landmark" and key structure in the Downtown Asheville Historic District. Smith was the supervising architect for George W. Vanderbilt's Biltmore Estate and the leading architect of the region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He donated his services to design the monument, which was a project envisioned by community leaders. The Vance Monument was mostly funded by George Willis Pack, a New Yorker who had recently moved to Asheville. Other contributors included Jewish organizations and politicians and businesses from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Massachusetts. In addition to serving three terms as governor of North Carolina, Vance was a United States Congressman before the Civil War and a United States senator from 1880 until he died in 1894. The project's donors reflected Vance's influence and reach as both a politician and popular speaker of the era. In the early 21st century, the monument became increasingly controversial because of its association with Vance, a former slave owner. The monument was removed by the City of Asheville in May 2021.

Downtown Asheville Historic District is a national historic district located at Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. The district encompasses about 279 contributing buildings and one contributing object in the central business district of Asheville. It includes commercial, institutional, and residential buildings in a variety of popular architectural styles including Colonial Revival, Queen Anne, and Art Deco.Located in the district and listed separately are the Asheville City Hall, Asheville Transfer and Storage Company Building, B&B Motor Company Building, Bledsoe Building, Buncombe County Courthouse, Thomas Wolfe House, Young Men's Institute Building, Ravenscroft School, Church of St. Lawrence, Battery Park Hotel, S & W Cafeteria, Sawyer Motor Company Building and the Arcade Building. Other notable buildings include the Flatiron Building (1927), Drhumor Building (1895), Sondley Building (1891), Grand Central Hotel Annex (c. 1886), Public Service Building (1929), Kress Building (1926-1927), Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church (1919), First Church of Christ Scientist (1900-1912), U. S. Post Office and Courthouse (1929-1930), Asheville Citizen and Times Building (1938-1939), Former Bon Marche Department Store (1923), Castanea Building (1921), Loughran Building (1923), Central Methodist Church (1902-1905, 1924, 1968), Trinity Episcopal Church (1912), First Presbyterian Church (1884-1885), Eagles Home (1914), Scottish Rite Cathedral and Masonic Temple (1913), and the Jackson Building (1923-1924). Also in the district is Pack Square which featured the Vance Monument (1898) until its demolition in May 2021.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, with boundary increases in 1989 and 1990. An increase / decrease occurred in 2011.

The Wortham Center for the Performing Arts, formerly known as the Diana Wortham Theatre, is a 28,000 square foot (2,600 m2) theater in Pack Place in Asheville, North Carolina. The main 500-seat Proscenium theater opened July 4, 1992 has about 50 shows each season between September and May, plus more than 100 events presented by groups that rent the space.

The Asheville Female College was the first institution of higher education in the western portion of North Carolina, founded as the Asheville Female Seminary in 1841 by John Dickson, M.D. and Rev. Erastus Rowley, D.D. The school had its first quarters on the corner of Patton Avenue and Church Street in Asheville, North Carolina. Between 1851 and 1855 the school became the property of the Holston Conference of the Methodist Church and its name was changed to the Holston Conference Female College. It found a home in other buildings on what later became its permanent campus, a 7-acre (2.8 ha) grove almost in the heart of Asheville. A scholarship program was created to increase attendance, which succeeded, but caused a financial problem. In the summer of 1855, Rev. Anson W. Cummings became president of the college and successfully offset the scholarship funding by increasing charges for the music and art departments. The school had nearly 200 students until the Civil War, when it was temporarily closed.After the Civil War, the property was purchased by a stock company and sold to Rev. James Atkins, Jr. The college was renamed Asheville Female College. A newer building was built by the president Rev. James Atkins, A.M., D.D, and J.A. Branner in 1888. With the growth of buildings and equipment there was corresponding growth in the breadth of the curriculum and in those departments which but for the impartation of the various accomplishments which so generally adorn the young women of the day. The personnel and equipment for teaching music, art in various forms, elocution, modern languages, physical culture, etc., were of a high order. On these accounts, together with the unparalleled climate of Asheville, women from twenty-three states, many of them very remote, sought admittance to the college. The school came to attract quite a number of pupils from the North and North-west United States, so that the patronage was much more cosmopolitan in its character than perhaps of any other school in the South. In the first fifty-two years of its history it had matriculated more than eight thousand pupils, most of whom went on to lend the skills of an educated and accomplished womanhood to the homes and circles of which they became a part.

The Asheville Art Museum is a nonprofit visual art organization in Western North Carolina (WNC) and is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The museum is located on the center square of downtown Asheville, 2 South Pack Square at Pack Place.The Asheville Art Museum presents exhibitions and public programs based on its permanent collection of 20th and 21st century American art. The museum features regional and national artists through special exhibitions, and showcases works of significance to Western North Carolina's cultural heritage including Studio Craft, Black Mountain College and Cherokee artists. Educational programs for children and adults are also offered.

The Jackson Building is a 140 ft (43m) 15-story building in Asheville, North Carolina And is owned by the Blaney Estate such was completed in 1924 in Pack Square downtown. It was the first skyscraper in western North Carolina.

S & W Cafeteria is a historic S & W Cafeteria building located in the Downtown Asheville Historic District of Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina, USA. It was designed by the architect Douglas Ellington and built in 1929. It is a three-story, brick building in the Art Deco style. The front facade is sheathed in grey ashlar and features polychrome ornamentation and exotic stylistic motifs. In 1974, the S & W Cafeteria moved to the Asheville Mall.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.In 2019, renovations began for the historic building to house S&W Market, a food hall and event venue. S&W Market opened in June 2021.

Young Men's Institute Building, also known as the YMI Building, is a historic meeting hall located at Asheville, Buncombe County, North Carolina. It was designed by architect Richard Sharp Smith and built in 1892–1893. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, pebbledash coated masonry building with brick, stone, and wood accents. From its early days, the YMI building has housed shops, residence rooms, meeting rooms, and a wide variety of functions serving the African American community of Asheville. The building was restored and reestablished as the YMI Cultural Center in 1980, and now hosts a variety of intercultural programs and events. It is located in the Downtown Asheville Historic District.

The Bon Marché Building of Asheville, North Carolina, now the Haywood Park Hotel, was built in 1923 by E.W. Grove for the store's owner, Solomon Lipinsky. This was several years before Grove began construction on nearby Grove Arcade, one of Asheville's most famous architectural landmarks. The Bon Marché building was designed by W.L. Stoddart, a hotel architect who also designed the Battery Park Hotel and Vanderbilt Hotel. It now houses the Haywood Park Hotel, a member of Historic Hotels of America. This new building served as a larger location for the Bon Marché, originally called Lipinsky and Ellick, which was founded in downtown Asheville in the 1890s. The owner, Solomon Lipinsky, was a prominent Jewish businessman and community leader in Asheville. from the 1890s to 1978, nearly 90 years, the Bon Marché became the longest running department store in Asheville's history. The name Bon Marché, meaning "the good deal" or "the good market" in French, came from Le Bon Marché, one of the world's first department stores located in Paris.In a 1938 letter to Solomon Lipinsky's son, Lewis Lipinsky, in preparation for the store's 50th anniversary, Asheville author Thomas Wolfe says "…Bon Marché is such a landmark in Asheville life that if I ever heard anything had happened to it I think I should feel almost as if Beaucatcher Mountain had been violently removed from the landscape by some force of nature. I know that as long as I can remember, at any rate, it has always stood with the women folk at home for the best in merchandise and fashion…"After The Bon Marché Store moved across the street in 1937, Ivey's Department Store took over the Bon Marché building. Ivey's Department Store became a staple in downtown Asheville during the mid-20th century. In 1985 the Bon Marché building was renovated with the removal of some 1950s and 1960s additions, such as a semicircular awning incompatible with the building's original style. The Haywood Street Redevelopment Corp. converted it into the Haywood Park Hotel and Atrium, a multi-use property which currently houses the Haywood Park Hotel, Isa's Bistro, as well as retail and office spaces; the conversion was completed in 1988. The hotel is a member of Historic Hotels of America.

The Hayes and Hopson Building (originally the Westall Building) is a historic three-story structure on South Spruce Street in Asheville, North Carolina. Built in 1907 and expanded in 1912, the building overlooks Pack Square Park. It became an important meeting point during Prohibition, when liquor was exchanged beneath the building via a network of tunnels. Pack's Tavern occupies the location today.

Tupelo Honey Cafe is a restaurant chain based in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, specializing in Southern cooking.The restaurant was established in 2000 by Sharon Schott. The company has since expanded to 26 locations across 17 states.