Ann And Clyde Van Arsdall House

35.980567, -78.909681

421
Carolina Circle
Durham
NC
Year built
1950
Year(s) modified
1960
Architectural style
Colonial Revival
National Register
Forest Hills
Neighborhood
Forest Hills
Use
Residence
Building Type
Residential
Local ID
115474
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421.jpg
From the National Register nomination form of 2005, completed by M. Ruth Little   2-story side-gable Colonial Revival-style house with exterior end chimney, left side 1-story wing, a door with pilasters and a blind fanlight, and 6-over-6 sash windows. At right is a recessed attached garage. Vinyl siding. Tyrie Van Arsdall, with the U.S. Navy, was the occupant in 1950. [1950 CD]   Robby Poore, descendant of the Van Arsdalls, has posted some fabulous mid-century photos of Carolina Circle, and Durham in general, on his personal Flickr page.  There are several albums (1948, 1949, 1950, 1950-1954, 1957, 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1970).  Individual images of 421 Carolina Circle include the front yard, side yard, front stoop, side walk, and three of the house's front facade (here, here, and here).

The following information comes from the City Directories and general web searching:

Year Occupant(s) Occupation(s) Other information
1950 Ann Sophia "Polly" Van Arsdall Clyde James Van Arsdall, Jr.   US Navy Commander Clyde was in the US Navy and eventually served as a Rear Admiral Upper Half.  He received the Navy Cross "for extraordinary heroism and distinguished service in the line of his profession as Commanding Officer of the Destroyer U.S.S. ANTHONY (DD-515), in action against the enemy from 25 through 27 May 1945, at Okinawa in the Ryukyu Islands." The Van Arsdalls' daughter and son-in-law lived at 426 Carolina Cir from February 1966 through August 1970.
1952 Nell A. Perkins   nurse   Nell worked at Duke Hospital.
1954 Eleanor (Montgomery) Bradsher Arthur Brown Bradsher, Jr.   physician Arthur worked at 1200 Broad St, after having earned degrees from Duke (1936) and McGill (1941).  His father was a turn-of-the-century, dominating Duke University baseball pitcher nicknamed "King of the Southern Diamond", founded Duke's Order of the Tombs, and became executive vice president of the Imperial Tobacco Company, located in Montreal.  Arthur's brother, Charles, was a Duke chemistry professor for 45 years.  Eleanor was born in Toronto, worked for the Dean of the Duke School of Nursing, and was director of sales at the downtown Durham Hotel.
1965 (vacant)        
1966 Jack Shaber        
1967 Anita M. Kitchen Ronald E. Kitchen   manager Ronald worked at Profexray, a Division of Littleton Industries, located at 803 Ramseur St.
1970 Susie L. Greeman William L. Greeman research assistant   William was a deep sea diver in the US Navy, became supervisor of the Hyperbaric Program at Duke Hospital where he worked from 1963-1984, and passed away in 2013.
1971 (vacant)        
1972 Mrs Pauline J. Mesmer   clerk/typist   Pauline worked at Duke Hospital.
1973 Sandra L., Elizabeth, and Susan L. Greeman William L. Greeman ward clerk, instructor, employee animal caretaker supervisor Elizbeth was an instructor at Duke Hospital, Susan was an IBM employee, and William continued to work at Duke Hospital.
1974 Elizabeth C. Greeman William L. Greeman   engineer William was listed as an engineer at Duke Hospital in 1974.
1975 Carol G. Greeman William L. Greeman      
1977 Barbara Lawson Michael J. Lawson   manager Michael managed the Chik-Fil-A in the South Square Mall, operated a Chik-Fil-A franchise in the Triangle for at least thirty years between 1975-2006, and had three children also work for the company.  Barbara was a Durham school teacher for at least 20 years.
1979 Sally Bethune Stuart Burney Bethune   employee Sally worked at the Girl Scouts of America, while Stuart worked in the financial aid office at UNC and co-founded the Orange County Living Wage Program in 2015 before passing away in 2017.
1987 John Tunnicliff Soper   physician   John worked at Duke and was an OB-GYN at the UNC School of Medicine.
1991 Michael Cooke   employee   Michael worked at IBM.
1993 Cathy H. Cooke Michael Cooke      
1996 Katrina Kelly        
1998 John Pless, Jr.       John's mother, Margaret, operated Claire's Cafe at 2701 Chapel Hill Rd (the Bartlett Mangum House) from 1983 until the early 1990s.  The Pless family owned the building until selling it in 1999, at which point it became the Four Square Restaurant.
2003 Lucy D. Pless        
2004 John Pless and John Pless, Jr. James R. Haviland   upper management James worked at Bizdevguy LLC.
2005 Denise W. Haviland James R. Haviland      
2008 Cheryl Haviland James R. Haviland      
2011 Ashley F. Logan Willis Logan pediatrician Duke Divinity student  

 

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Comments

Submitted by avanars on Tue, 3/17/2020 - 12:00pm

The occupant in 1950 was not Tyrie Van Arsdall, but Clyde James Van Arsdall, Jr., USN. At the time his rank was commander, and he rose to be rear admiral in the US Navy. While he lived in the house, he was second in command at the NROTC unit at Duke University. Living with him was his wife, Polly Ann Austin Van Arsdall; daughter Anne, and sons C.J., III, and Robert Bernard Van Arsdall. The wing on the left side was not there in 1950.

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