The Pireus Store is a simple vernacular structure whose appearance has been much reworked during its lifetime. The store is rectangular in form with the narrower, gable-end fronting on East Market Street. Actually two stories in height, only one story shows on Market Street because of the sharp ground rise. A finished attic has provided an additional half story.  The store was most likely built ca 1835-1840 to serve workers at the “Charlottesville Factory,” a forerunner to the textile plant that eventually became the Woolen Mills. At its peak, the Woolen Mills area was a self-contained community with this store, a church, a school and houses for the workers.

The buildings and districts listed under the Charlottesville Multiple Resource Area nomination represent a cross section of all the City’s historic periods, from the founding of Charlottesville in the 1760’s through the advent of the automobile and the impact it had on the City’s expansion. Also included are buildings that have played an important part in the history of Charlottesville’s black community. The Pireus Store was listed in the registers under the Charlottesville MRA without a formal nomination document.