407 South Buchanan

Looking northeast, late 1970s

Even though these houses remained in a persistently downtrodden state over the last decade or so of their lives, there was something stately about them to me - as I would drive north or south on Buchanan Blvd., the freeway overpass always felt to me a bit like a gateway in and out of the West End, and these two houses - very upright and not fancily adorned - felt a bit like sentinels.

They were likely built as rental housing, and were a bit unusual in that they had the common tri-gabled ('triple-A') roofline so common in early 20th century Durham single-story houses - but in a two-story form.

I believe that these houses were torn down sometime in the late 1990s. Whether by the city or by Immaculata, the land soon became part of Immaculata's parking and site expansion.

Looking northeast, 04.23.08


35.999065 -78.914071