106 West Parrish Street

35.995886, -78.900541

106
West Parrish Street
Durham
NC
Year built
1909
Construction type
Masonry
Local historic district
Downtown Durham
National Register
Downtown Durham
Neighborhood
Downtown Central
Building Type
Commercial
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The buildings at 104 and 106 West Parrish St. were constructed in 1908 and 1909, respectively.


106 West Parrish rendering


West Parrish from Orange St., looking northwest, 1922.


A bird's-eye view of Parrish Street, looking northwest, 1924.
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

106 West Parrish, the brick building on the northwest corner of Orange St. and West Parrish, was built by William P. Clements for his office. According to a publication by the Merchants' Association, he was "an extensive dealer in real estate."

108 West Parrish St., immediately to the west of the Clements building, was built by the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association to provide additional office space for their growing company.


Above, a view of the upper floors, looking northeast, 1923.
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

NC Mutual soon took over the Clements building as well for their district office. 106 West Parrish housed the Reformer Publishing Company, which printed the Durham Reformer and the NC Mutual company newspaper The North Carolina Mutual

By the 1950s, Rose's Furniture had moved into these storefronts.


Looking northeast, 1960
(Courtesy Duke Archives)



1962 (Ralph Rogers collection, Durham County Library)

Rose's furniture had closed by the 1970s


Looking northwest, 1978.

Today, 106 West Parrish has been boarded/vacant for some time, but it has been purchased by Center Studio Architecture. 108 West Parrish contains both businesses and residence(s?).

Looking northwest, 2007

As of 2012, the building is under renovation.

106WParrish_062712.jpg

06.27.12

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Comments

Submitted by Andrew (not verified) on Wed, 4/25/2007 - 4:44pm

I always wondered if the corner building had any connection to Howard Clement's family, but probably not, considering the "s" on the end of the building's name?

--ASE.

Submitted by Carey (not verified) on Wed, 4/25/2007 - 5:08pm

I look forward to the day, hopefully, when the City agrees to tear down their parking deck and allow for redevelopment on the site along Chapel Hill, Mangum, Parrish and Orange Streets. What a beautiful terminating vista the post office provides at the end of Orange Street - if only they would cut back those scraggly looking trees.

Submitted by Gary (not verified) on Wed, 4/25/2007 - 5:54pm

Andrew -

Well, the historic inventory calls Clements "a white businessman", so conclude what you will from that.

Carey -

Agreed - the triangle between Orange, CH, and Mangum has, in my mind, some of the best urban space-creation potential downtown. I think you'll enjoy a picture I am going to post tomorrow which shows that terminating vista.

GK

Submitted by Joe (not verified) on Wed, 4/25/2007 - 7:57pm

Those non-orthogonal buildings and streets are refreshing to the eye. Having everything square just gets boring after a while.

Submitted by Toby (not verified) on Tue, 6/28/2011 - 2:00am

Correction to my previous comment: the building under renovation is NOT 106 W. Parrish, but 108-114. The second floor facade (currently painted a light green) appears unaffected. Sorry for any confusion. I am still looking for information about what will happen with the first floor facade.

Submitted by Toby (not verified) on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 12:36am

 

The Herald-Sun newspaper reported that the Durham City Council approved an economic development grant to support the renovation of this building:

"The largest of the grants, for $75,000, would go to Bullocity LLC, a company operated by Stacey Jasper and Aaron Averill. They intend to spend $726,850 to renovate 106 W. Parrish St., which has been vacant for more than 10 years and can’t be renovated solely with private capital because the renovation cost exceeds the building’s market value. A bank loan would cover the difference between the city’s contribution and the city grant. Jasper and Averill told city officials they intend to convert the buildings’ two lower floors into commercial space and the third floor into residences."

http://heraldsun.com/view/full_story/16837884/article-City-approves-fou…-?

Submitted by Toby (not verified) on Tue, 6/28/2011 - 2:00am

I noticed yesterday that the facade of (I believe) 106 W. Parrish has been stripped, apparently in preparation for renovations. I asked one of the men working on the demo crew about what will be done with the front face of the building, but he didn't know. Does anyone out there in ED-land have an insight here? I really hope the brick facade will be restored. Toby

Submitted by Aaron (not verified) on Tue, 7/12/2011 - 2:00am

Yes renovation is happening next door, however 106 W. Parrish is under contract with plans for a historical renovation: http://www.bullocity.us/tag/106wparrish/

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