810 Broad Street

36.010749, -78.919317

810
Durham
NC
Year built
1900-1920
Year demolished
1970-1975
Construction type
Neighborhood
Building Type
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Looking northeast from near Broad and West Markham, 01.09.57
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun)


(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

The east side of the 800 block of Broad Street was residential throughout the early and mid 20th century.


810 Broad Street.
(Courtesy Joyce Avery)

In the early 1970s, Eckerd Drugs demolished four houses - about half the block - to build a drugstore, set far behind a surface parking lot. When Eckerd's moved north to Broad and Guess Road in the late 1990s, the former drugstore became a Dollar General.


800-810 Broad, 06.27.09

This is an abysmal land use - they don't even set drugstores behind this much surface parking in the suburbs anymore. I hope that someday this goes away, and a new building is built up to the corner.



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36.010382,-78.919349

Comments

This was, for better of worse, the style of the times. I would like to say there is a value in preserving this example of architectural site planning (although I really have to squint to see it).

While I do not know what went into the architect's decisions, I suspect the drug store believed (rightly) that putting spacious parking on display was a very good marketing tool in an area of town where commercial parking is at a premium.

At day's end, it's hard to have it both ways. We say we want to preserve old structures (and their context on a site) but perhaps we only REALLY want that because we think much of the old style is in style again. If in 2009, we think it gauche, well, then cut loose the bulldozer.

I've thought of this building among Durham's notable eyesores for two decades. The blocks north from there to Club are on the whole quite lovely, but it's hard to see them with the image of that monstrosity burned into one's retinae.

The parking (as Heelz implies) is clearly in lieu of a giant sign (blessedly absent). Perhaps it was meant to distract the drivers of Pontiacs as they headed up to North Gate?

In response to Tarheelz, it is more than just a complaint about style. It is about attempting to return to a more sustainable form of city planning. A style that is more pedestrian oriented instead of car oriented.

Granted though, tearing down any building puts more materials in landfills and can cancel out some of the sustainability advocates are trumpeting. I believe the pros outweigh the cons though.

Either way though, my opinion isn't about style, it's based on a desire to do my daily errands on foot or by bike and a resentment that cities have been built in such a way that saddles me with monthly car insurance, gas, and maintenance costs.

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