Wiley And Elizabeth Forbus House (nr 2004)

Wiley and Elizabeth Forbus House (NR 2004)

3307 Devon Road, 1933, ca. 1985, 2004, Contributing Building

G. Murray Nelson, architect

George W. Kane, builder

Two-story, hip-roofed, brick Norman Provincial house with a steeply pitched roof and a central round tower with conical roof at the facade; asymmetrical massing further enhanced with staggered chimney stacks; wood casement windows replaced the original metal casement windows and brass screens in the 1980s; substantial expansion and rehabilitation in 2004 added a new three-car attached garage at the rear, converted the attached two-car garage at the north end into living space, and added a patio across the rear elevation of the house that wraps around the south elevation. The Forbus House is a well-articulated example of the Norman Provincial architectural style, rare in Durham. The house was built for Dr. Wiley D. Forbus and Elizabeth Burger Forbus and their daughters. Forbus moved to Durham with his family in 1930 to establish the Pathology Department at the Duke University School of Medicine and serve as head of the Duke Hospital pathology department. He was one of the many doctors recruited from Johns Hopkins University when Duke University established its medical school. The house, completed in 1931, burned to the ground in 1933 and was immediately rebuilt. G. Murray Nelson of Raleigh was the architect; George W. Kane of Durham was the builder.

The Forbus House was the first structure in Hope Valley to receive an individual National Register Listing, and began the drive to have the neighborhood recognized as a significant development in Durham.  National Register recognition for Hope Valley's historic core came in 2009.