509 Dunbar Street – Austin House

This two-story, hip-roofed Foursquare house is three bays wide and double-pile with a one-story, gabled rear ell. The house has a brick foundation, aluminum siding, and two interior brick chimneys. It retains four-over-one, double-hung Craftsman-style windows throughout, though the windows in the hipped front dormer have been removed. The one-story, hip-roofed porch wraps around the west side of the house and is supported by decorative metal posts with brackets and has a metal railing and a terra cotta covered slab floor. The side porch has been enclosed. The front door is a modern replacement, but retains an original five light sidelight. A stone retaining wall extends across the front of the lot and has an integrated stone stair.

The Austin family is listed as living in this house from the mid-1920s. Louis Austin, editor of the Carolina Times, is listed as living here with his wife Stella - along with Carrie Austin and Maude Austin. Louis moved to Merrick Street briefly in 1930 (1 year,) but appears to have moved back to the house after that.

Comments

Submitted by Jerry (not verified) on Sun, 6/24/2012 - 4:26pm

According to the Durham city directories, Carrie Austin lived at 509 Dunbar in 1926, and perhaps earlier.

Submitted by gary on Sun, 6/24/2012 - 4:53pm

Thanks Jerry. There are, unfortunately, a lot of errors like this in the National Register nomination that I've copied here, so I appreciate the effort to fix them.

Submitted by Karen on Sun, 10/14/2012 - 11:41pm

According to the 1935 CD, this was actually the home of Louis Austin, editor of The Carolina Times. Records indicate he lived here from the time it was built through at least the 1950s. He lived here with his wife Stella, and family members Carrie and Maude Austin.

509 Dunbar Street – Austin House

35.978955, -78.899218

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Austin, Louis

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