Commercial

1212 South Duke Street / University Drive

Funky modern early fast-food architecture

115 North Duke St. - Studebaker Building

---- Looking northwest at the later intersection of Duke and Main, 1890. (Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection The area around the Duke & Sons tobacco factory still had quite an agrarian feel to it into the 1890s; only the factory itself and Fairview, Washington Duke's mansion at the left edge of the picture, betray something...

Hall-Wynne / Penny Furniture - Morris Street

Originally the Hall-Wynne funeral home, this 1900s building was a bowling alley before becoming Penny Furniture for many years.

Southern Fire Insurance Co.

---- Aerial showing the mill village houses north of Perry St., between Broad and 8th (Iredell), 1940s. (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper) Mill houses associated with the Erwin Cotton Mills were constructed in a centrifugal pattern around the mill from the 1890s-1910s. I've profiled those extending west from the mill on 13th, 14th, and 15th...

1200 W. Chapel Hill St. – Former Pure Oil Service Station / Grub Restaurant

The former Pure Oil service station at 1200 W. Chapel Hill Street had become a neighborhood liability and a likely candidate for demolition. Long-term leakage from underground fuel storage tanks and incidental surface spills had contaminated the soil around three sides of the building. Asbestos, peeling paint, and damage from years of water...

102 Hood St.

06.25.13 11.08.2018, (BrianR) 35mm, Expired Color Film 11.08.2018, (BrianR) 35mm, Expired Color Film A.K.A. Not Just Wings This building was demolished to make room for the new Durham Police Headquarters Complex.

1001 Glendale

1956 A few years ago, Bob Blake was kind enough to let me scan a bunch of the photos he took, primarily in the 1950s, which he used for his paintings. He said that he thought this store was located on Glendale Ave., but I can't find footprints resembling this on a Sanborn map. Any ideas?

426 Morris St. – Tennessee Lunch / Pete's

Longtime, central spot for quick eats, under various names from the 1930s until at least the 1970s.

Alexander Ford Motor Co.

The Alexander Motor Company was established in 1916 by S. Parks Alexander on the corner of Church and East Parrish Sts. In 1924, they constructed their new dealership at 330 East Main St. To get a sense of how things have changed in the world of car dealerships, the Alexander Ford Company hired Milburn and Heister to design their structure.

326 East Main Street / Johnson Motor Company

326 East Main, 2007 During the early 20th century, the large, elaborate dwellings in the 300 and 400 blocks of East Main St. (the two blocks between Roxboro and Dillard St.) were progressively torn down to make way for commercial and institutional structures. One of these structures was the Presley J. Mangum house, built in the 1880s. Mangum was...