Downtown Durham

It may be apparent from this site that I have a certian predilection for interesting/quirky urban spaces, and, for me, 120 West Parrish is the oddest property in downtown Durham. To begin with, it isn't on Parrish St. In fact, it isn't on any street. It is in the middle of a block, accessible by alleyway only. The orange blob in the middle of the...

So I decided to post on 320 and 322 East Chapel Hill St. separately, primarily because I lacked 'before' pictures that I was satisfied with, and my current day picture wasn't much better. Here is the best, tight-ish shot of 320 East Chapel Hill St. I could find - the second building from the left. (Courtesy Durham County Library) And here is the...

The small commercial building at the southwest corner of Orange St. and East Chapel Hill St. (322 East Chapel Hill St.) was constructed in the mid-1920s. I haven't had time to make it to the old city directories to find out some of the early tenants. The shot below is not the best, as the front facade is partially obscured, but it is taken during...

WC Lyon Company, late 1910s-early 1920s (Courtesy Robby Delius) Ever wonder why Corcoran St. stopped at East Chapel Hill St. until the 2006-2007 link with Foster St., and you'd have to make a jog around the corner that 301 East Chapel Hill sits on to continue on Foster St.? Because Willie Mangum's farm was in the way when the streets were laid out...

212 Foster Street was located just north of the Durham Armory on Foster St. By the 1920s, it housed the Holland Furniture Company. Looking east, Foster St. in the foreground. (Courtesy Duke Archives) Looking northeast, 1940s. (Courtesy Duke Archives) 10.31.60 (Courtesy Herald-Sun) 10.31.60 (Courtesy Herald-Sun) After the Kimbrell's Furniture...

The northern portion of the site between Morgan, East Chapel Hill, Holland, and Foster Sts. was the site of a city market constructed around 1910. It is unclear if this market replaced the market that had been located in the Academy of Music or supplemented it - it is possible that when the "New Academy of Music" was constructed, the market was...

The "Durham Auditorium" was the grandest theater in the age of downtown theaters, transitioning from live performances / to moving pictures early on. Spared the wrecking ball in the 1960s, it is the only downtown theater that survives - as a center for independent film, live performance, and movie festivals.

The survivor among Durham's early newspapers, the Market Street location was the first location of the Durham Morning Herald, and then the Durham Sun. The newspaper steadily expanded its presence to the west through the 1980s until it left downtown in 1990 for the greyer pastures of the 15-501 bypass.

The Jordan Building, at 213 West Main St., is one of the oldest buildings remaining in downtown, built sometime between 1898 and 1902. In the above shot, taken around the turn of the century, one can see the small frame structures on either side that the new commercial structures such as the Jordan building replaced. Soon, this filled in with other...

One of the largest of Durham's early department stores, Kronheimer's was started by Benjamin Kronheimer and operated until his death in 1938. The building later was occupied by the Raylass chain of department stores.