201 North Roxboro Street - Northwestern Bank

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Looking northwest, at the intersection of Roxboro and Parrish Sts. 1924.
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

Roxboro St./Rd. developed as a residential street during the 1880s - one that did not extend further north than Holloway St. well into the 1890s. (Roxboro was originally called Second St., and Cleveland St. was the Person-Roxboro Rd.)

Some commercial development of the southern end of Roxboro St. began to occur after the construction of the courthouse in 1889. As you can see from the above picture, the large houses of the 1880s-1890s were still present on Roxboro in the 1920s. Just to the west of those houses is a garage, and some older commercial structures (frame structures with squared front facades extending beyond the gable face more typical of 1870s-1880s commercial development in Durham.)

Above, looking northwest from First Presbyterian Church on E. Main - the houses on the west side of Roxboro are visible in the background.

This garage expanded during the mid 20th century, taking over the formerly residential parcels as parking lot. By the 1960s, it was the Elkins Motor Company dealership.

Looking northwest at the intersection of N. Roxboro and E. Parrish Sts., likely 1967-68 based on the car model year. (Thanks Paul!)
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

In 1973, this dealership was torn down.

Looking southwest from the intersection of Liberty and N. Roxboro, 1973.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

And the Northwestern Bank was built in its place.

Under construction - looking northwest from North Roxboro, 1974.
(Courtesy Robby Delius)

Under construction - looking northeast from North Roxboro, 1974.
(Courtesy Robby Delius)

Looking northwest from N. Roxboro, 1974.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

I'm not sure how long the bank survived, but the building is currently a judicial annex, owned by Durham County.

Looking northwest, 2007.

This actually isn't a bad building, and I'd much rather have this here than the parking lot that preceded it. I wish it had a more signnificant entrance, and I'm not a fan of mirrored glass, but I like the fact that it is built up to the sidewalk, and the massing and form are appropriate for the streetscape.