1998 Preservation Durham Home Tour: Fayetteville Street, Forest Hills

The 1998 Preservation Durham Home tour was divided between two neighborhoods - College View/Stokesdale and Forest Hills.

The College View / Stokesdale Section, described as the "Fayetteville Street Neighborhood" in the tour booklet:

The Fayetteville Street neighborhood was once one of the most popular neighborhoods in Southeast Durham, the home of many African-American professionals businessmen, and professors at what is now North Carolina Central University. The neighborhood is characterized by bungalows and revival styles taken from plans in popular magazines. Some were built from plans and materials sold as a package in Sears mail order catalogs. Durham builder James Whitted is credited with building a number of these houses.

Built between the 1920s and 1940s, many of the houses here are modest and the city lots are small. The cultural opportunities offered by the nearby college were attractive to residents. The Algonquin Tennis Club, Southeast Durham's most popular social and recreational spot of the 1930s and 1940s, was located nearby in the 1400 block of Fayetteville Street. [Actually 1308 Fayetteville - GK] All of Southeast Durham was drastically changed by the construction of the Durham Freeway [but mostly by urban renewal - GK], cutting through the business district of Hayti, which supported this neighborhood. Preservation efforts are underway for the James E. Shepard House on Fayetteville Street to be restored as a showplace for the community.