Crowell House

Faculty Row houses, 1902 - the house is labelled as the "Mims" house
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection. Scanned by Digital Durham)

Another of the 'Faculty Row' houses built by Trinity College in 1891 during the original Durham campus construction is known as the Crowell House, for its first occupant, John Franklin Crowell. All five Faculty Row houses were built from plans ordered from a New York architect. FPer the historic inventory:

"Crowell was President of Trinity College from 1887 to 1895 and the director of the move of the college from Randolph County to Durham in 1892. He was a strong believer in the academic advantages provided by an urban environment; beyond promoting the move to Durham, Crowell worked very hard to improve the educational facilities of the college and to upgrade its faculty. In addition to teaching, administering the college, and cataloging the combined book collections of the Literary Society, Crowell introduced intercollegiate football to Trinity College. In the early years of the 20th century, he pursued a second distinguished career as an economist and statistician in New York."

1913 Sanborn map overlay showing the location of the Crowell House.

Four of the Faculty Row houses were moved intact from the campus in 1916, and the fifth was dismantled. The widening of Guess Road and the construction of the stone wall around the campus prompted the college to insist upon the removal of the houses. They gave them to the professors living in the houses at the time, although it seems that it was up to the professors to move them.

The Crowell House was moved to 504 Watts St., where it remains, intact.

Crowell House, 02.21.10

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36.00589,-78.910926