People & Places

James A. and Irene B. Smith House

1417 Acadia Street, 2011 (Courtesy Alex Maness) The J. A. Smith House, 1931 1417 Acadia Street Among the last houses built in Duke Park before the crushing weight of the Great Depression halted nearly all construction, the J. A. Smith House is nevertheless an outstanding example of the Tudor or gothic revival style so popular in the Duke Park...

Thomas E. Allen House

03.06.10 (Photo by Gary Kueber) October 2013 (Triangle MLS) (Below in italics is from the 1984 National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.) T.E. Allen House. Constructed for T.E. Allen, owner of an insurance agency by the same name. Allen's son, George, earned a national reputation as ambassador to Greece and as "the Voice...

Lida Duke Angier House

106 North Buchanan Boulevard, 06.16.58 (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper) Lida Duke Angier moved to the house at 106 North Buchanan Boulevard after the death of her husband, John Angier, around 1910. She and her husband had previously lived in the Angier-Satterfield House on West Pettigrew Street. It's currently occupied by the Wesley House - a...

Andrew-Watson House

This one-story, gable-and-wing house is three-bays wide and double pile with a modern shedroofed addition wrapping the rear ell. The earliest known occupants are John (carpenter) and Eva Squires in 1911.

Swain-Rogers House

(Below in italics is from the National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author. 1920s Type A bungalow retains original shingled exterior, low hipped-roof dormer, four-over-one windows, tapered box posts with molded caps set on brick piers, an interior-end chimney, and a multipaned entry door. .

White Rock Baptist Church Parsonage

This two-story, hip-roofed Foursquare house is three bays wide and triple-pile. County tax records date the building to 1923; the earliest known occupant is Reverend S. L. McDowell in 1925; it is currently two or three units.

Ford-Swartz House

(Courtesy of Lappegard Photography, March 2019) Featured in the 2019 Preservation Durham Home Tour (text in italics below from the tour booklet): The house was built in 1948 for Willard C. and Maude Ford. Willard Ford operated the Ford Metal Molding Company, a successful metal fabrication business with offices in Manhattan and a plant in New Jersey...

Edith M. Adderton House

(Courtesy of Lappegard Photography, March 2019) Featured in the 2019 Preservation Durham Home Tour (text in italics below from the tour booklet): Among the very first homes built and sold in Glendale Heights was 616 Colgate Street. Built in 1946, the house embodies the Minimal Traditional style described in the 1940 Federal Housing Administration’s...

Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Skinner Jr. House

(Courtesy of Lappegard Photography, March 2019) Featured in the 2019 Preservation Durham Home Tour (text in italics below from the tour booklet): After growing up on Hermitage Court in Forest Hills, Charles R. Skinner Jr. bought land not far away on Sycamore Street to build his house. The timing was fortuitous, Skinner, who went by “Chas,” bought...

J.D. & Drusilla Gibson House

(Courtesy of Lappegard Photography, March 2019) Featured in the 2019 Preservation Durham Home Tour (text in italics below from the tour booklet): During the years of the Great Depression, new home construction stopped. The only thing happening to capture national attention and shape popular architectural taste was the work at Colonial Williamsburg...