Steel frame

Home Security Life Building in 1959

Home Security Life Building

Modernist office building built by the Hill family in 1957 for their Home Security Life insurance company. In the 1990s, it became the headquarters for the Durham Police Department. Vacant since 2019.

2421 Perkins Road

Per Triangle Modernist Houses: Colonel Rambeau House Built by Eileen Johns, pioneer woman real estate broker and builder, who sold and built Lustron houses in the Durham area from 1948-1951. Added a garage. Sold to the Mitchells. Sold in 1957 to Charles Albert (Al) Hilliard who added the back room and bath and then joined it to the garage...

Lake Ridge Aero Park

Not everyone is aware that there is an airport subdivision in eastern Durham county; Lake Ridge Airport, on the shore of Falls Lake near the Durham County line is Durham County's own little airport - no having to share it with the "R" next door. Residences have their backyards facing on the airstrip - I presume if you enjoy door-to-door convenience with your small plane, this is ideal. 10.10.10

Durham Station / Freight & Car Train Depot

Original 1854 NC railroad survey, showing the future location of Durham's Station (Courtesy David Southern/Steve Rankin)

Apex Street Bridge

A narrow, vehicular bridge that connected the neighborhoods of Southside/St. Theresa's and Forest Hills from 1956 to 2009.

305 West Pettigrew / Peabody Drug Company

Peabody Drug Co, looking southwest, 1965. (Courtesy Durham County Library) 305 West Pettigrew was initially one of the small houses built just east of the Blackwell factory in the 1880s. In 1926, this house was torn down for a new building for the Peabody Drug Co., which had started its life in the 100 block of East Peabody Street in 1907. The new...

Durham County Courthouse (third)

The county's 1978-2012 courthouse was outdated and hated from the moment it was completed. Worse yet, the powers-that-be destroyed an entire block of attractive - some beautiful - structures in order to build this cold mess. The best of the lot was the Hotel Malbourne, on the northwest corner of N. Roxboro and East Main. Looking northwest, 1966...

Snow Building

(1930, Photograph by Albert Barden, collection available online at State Archives of North Carolina) The Snow Building was one of a 'second wave' of more impressive commercial structures to be built at Five Points. Situated between the core of downtown (Main between Church and Corcoran) and the Duke Factory, the Five Points area initially consisted...

Fire Station #2 (ninth Street)

By the 1950s, the growth of population westward, the envelopment of West Durham into the City of Durham, and the scaling of fire equipment necessitated a new fire station for Company #2, which had been located amongst the Liggett Warehouses on West Main St. since 1906 The Ninth Street property was purchased by the City from the heirs of Mrs. Ida...

2120 Sprunt Ave. – Keir Lustron House

(Courtesy of Lappegard Photography, March 2019) Featured in the 2019 Preservation Durham Home Tour (text in italics below from the tour booklet): This little house on Sprunt Avenue is a truly rare American architectural gem. It is a “Lustron” house – made entirely of enameled steel inside and out. The house was prefabricated and sold by the Lustron...