212 Formosa Avenue

212
Durham
NC
Year built
1940
Architectural style
Construction type
National Register
Neighborhood
Use
Building Type
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Photograph taken by Heather Slane, National Historic Register Submission

 

Facing the campus of North Carolina Central University to the north, this one-and-a-half story, side-gabled Period Cottage is four bays wide and double-pile with a projecting, asymmetrical front-gabled entrance wing centered on the façade. The house has a brick veneer, vinyl windows with soldier-course headers, aluminum siding in the front gable, and a stepped, front-facing, brick chimney on the façade. The entrance bay features a batten door with three lights in an arched brick surround and has a diamond-paned window to its right (west). It is accessed by an uncovered concrete stoop with decorative metal railings and brick knee walls flanking the stairs. The side elevations feature paired windows and triangular louvered vents in the gables. A shed-roofed, frame porch on the left (east) elevation has been enclosed with paired slider windows over a knee wall sheathed with vertical vinyl. A low stone wall extends along the front of the property with stone steps leading to the front walk. County tax records date the house to 1940, which was purchased from North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company on October 31, 1940,  and the earliest known occupants were Emmett C. Pratt, owner of P & G Grill, and his wife, Elizabeth B. Pratt, in 1945.

On January 9, 1957, Emmett C. Pratt sold barber equipment and supplies to Robert B. Stewart from property that he owned at 1224 Fayetteville Street.  Mr. Pratt retained ownership of the property and operated the grill/store.  On March 3, 1972, according to deed records, the Pratts were paid by the Redevelopment Commission of Durham for the property they condemned for urban renewal.  It is not clear as to why the property was never demolished.

After Mr. Pratt's death, Mrs. Pratt sold their house  to Catherine Pratt Marshall on October 25, 1991.  Ms. Marshall lived in the home until she sold it on March 20, 2015 to Quinn Partners LLC and the property was used as a rental investment.  On February 6, 2020, Quinn Partners LLC sold the house to Concord Street LLC.  Steven Michael Hipps purchased the house from Concord Street LLC on June 8, 2020.  The house remains rental property.

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