217 Foster Street

35.997508, -78.901864

217
Durham
NC
Year built
1920-1930
Year demolished
1967-1970
Construction type
Neighborhood
Use
Building Type
Can you help?
You don't need to know everything, but do you know the architect?
Log in or register and you can edit this.
217 Foster Street, 1963 (Courtesy Durham County Library)

The 200 Block of Foster St. developed as a commercial/light industrial area which supplanted several residences in the northern portion of the block at the turn of the century. The block was also the home of the Model Laundry by the 1920s.

209 Foster Street, 1920s.

This building was replaced by a new building in the 1920s with a stucco facade, renumbered 217 Foster St., which extended all of the way through the block to Roney Street.

This aerial view from 1938 shows the rear of the structures in the 200 block, with the Armory to the left (north). Roney St. is in the foreground. Running through the middle of the block was an auto service area called the Lyon garage.

 

Courtesy Duke Archives, Wyatt Dixon Collection.

 

 

 

The Lyon garage ~1950, looking west-northwest with the Carolina Theatre in the background. 217 Foster Street is to the right (facade not visible.)

 

 

Looking northwest on Foster, 1949.

 

217 Foster Street, 1963
217Foster_Roneyside_1960s.jpg
217 Foster Street - rear of the building as seen from Roney Street.

These buildings were demolished as part of Urban Renewal in the mid-1960s. Most of the northern portion (north of the East Chapel Hill St. storefronts) sat vacant until the development of the Omni Hotel and the Civic Center Plaza in 1986.

 

The 200 block of Foster, now the ever-so-welcoming entrance to the Marriott, looking west-southwest, 2007.

 

 

The corner of Foster and Morgan, looking northwest, 2007.

 

Add new comment

Log in or register to post comments.