The Joshua Beam House, one of the most prominent ante-bellum residences in Cleveland County, is an imposing two-story building sited on a 150-acre tract of pasture and woodland northeast of Shelby. The house features a two-story pedimented portico, pedimented gable ends and simple but consistent Greek Revival interior woodwork--all characteristic of the development of the vernacular Greek Revival architecture style in this region.

The home reflects the growing prosperity of the planter and business class of the western Piedmont of North Carolina in the decades before the Civil War. It was constructed sometime between 1841 and 1845 for Joshua Beam (1800-1869), a successful planter, slave owner and businessman who established an iron manufacturing operation on his property and was involved in numerous other business and mining interests.

It was built about 1845, and is a two-story, gable-roofed frame dwelling in the Greek Revival style. It has a one-story rear kitchen ell. The front facade features a two-story pedimented porch with an intervening second floor balcony.

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. T

he Joshua Beam house is located at New Prospect Church Rd. It is a private residence and not open to the public.