North Dillard Street

In the early 19th century, the eastern section of what is now downtown Durham was a community called Dilliardsville; the name Dillard is probably a corruption of the earlier name. Dilliardsville was named after * Dilliard, and was the location of the local post office from 183* to 184*, when civilization, and I use the term loosely, moved eastward to Prattsburg.

On the Blount map of Durham's Station c. 1867, the street appears as "New Dillard Street" and is described as a wagon road cutoff connecting the Fayetteville Road with the precursor to Holloway Street. The 1881 Gray map shows Dillard Street extending southward to the NC railroad tracks.

In the 1870s, Dillard Street was developed with housing, but in the 1880s and 1890s, much of this pleasant housing was supplanted with elaborate Victorian mansions, lending Dillard Street the nickname "Mansion Row." Tobacco tycoons Julian Shakespeare Carr built his sumptuous "Somerset Villa" and his brother-in-law, Edward J. Parrish, among others, built lavish homes there.

Dillard Street had lost its status as a top tier address by the 1920s, when Somerset Villa was torn down, and Forest Hills and Hope Valley became the neighborhoods of choice for the gentry. Incremental residential->commerical conversion combined with heavy-handed urban renewal in the 1960s have left only the c. 1900 Markham House at 204 N. Dillard and the 1910 C.C. Thomas House at 206 N. Dillard standing as of 2012.

See also South Dillard Street

Ej Parrish House/ Richard H. Wright House

On the northeast corner of Main and Dillard streets is the below imposing structure. Looking northeast, July 2006.

Oldham Towers

On the northeast corner of Main and Dillard streets is this imposing structure. Looking north, November 2018.

115 North Dillard Street

(Courtesy Susan Griswold Herst) The large house at 115 N. Dillard St., was built in a neoclassical revival style, and resembled the still extant 206 N. Dillard St. After ~1910, the house was home to the Griswold family. William J. Griswold was mayor of Durham from 1910-1912, and president of the Griswold Insurance and Real Estate Co. William...

218 North Dillard Street - Brown House

~1890s (Courtesy Chris DiMattei.) If it isn't clear, the landscape is drawn in around the photograph of the house. The Dr. Joseph C. and Sallie G. Brown house was designed by architect George F. Barber and built at the corner of Holloway and North Dillard Streets in the 1890s. 1913 Sanborn map showing the large house at 218 N. Dillard. The odd...

207 North Dillard Street

Dillard St., otherwise known as "Mansion Row" contained more modest structures at the northwest extreme, and generally more elaborate structures on the east side of the 200 block, and on both sides of the 100 block near East Main St. The west side of the 200 block of N. Dillard contained a commercial structure on the southwest corner of N. Dillard and Holloway, and larger structures to the south. Many of these had become rooming houses by the 1960s.

211 North Dillard Street

Dillard St., otherwise known as "Mansion Row" contained more modest structures at the northwest extreme, and generally more elaborate structures on the east side of the 200 block, and on both sides of the 100 block near East Main St. The west side of the 200 block of N. Dillard contained a commercial structure on the southwest corner of N. Dillard and Holloway, and larger structures to the south. Many of these had become rooming houses by the 1960s.

213 North Dillard Street

Dillard St., otherwise known as "Mansion Row" contained more modest structures at the northwest extreme, and generally more elaborate structures on the east side of the 200 block, and on both sides of the 100 block near East Main St. The west side of the 200 block of N. Dillard contained a commercial structure on the southwest corner of N. Dillard and Holloway, and larger structures to the south. Many of these had become rooming houses by the 1960s.

215 North Dillard Street

Dillard St., otherwise known as "Mansion Row" contained more modest structures at the northwest extreme, and generally more elaborate structures on the east side of the 200 block, and on both sides of the 100 block near East Main St. The west side of the 200 block of N. Dillard contained a commercial structure on the southwest corner of N. Dillard and Holloway, and larger structures to the south. Many of these had become rooming houses by the 1960s.

218 North Dillard Street

Looking south from Holloway and N. Dillard, 1956. (Courtesy Wayne Henderson) The odd story, perhaps emblematic of the preservation ethic in Durham, is that Mrs. Sally G Brown, who lived in this house into the early 1950s ordered in her will that the house be demolished immediately upon her death. And it was, in 1952. The land was developed into a...

212 North Dillard Street

212 North Dillard Street, 1950s ~1960, looking southeast. 1960ish, looking northeast. Looking southeast from Dillard St., 1966. 212 N. Dillard St., looking east, 2007.