Alyea House

3102 Dover Road

This large Tudor Revival style dwelling is probably the most truly Tudor house in Durham            

as it is the only house identified in the inventory as built according to Tudor construction

methods.  The lengthy three-year construction period is explained by this reversion to medieval

techniques.  E. Hayes Clement, who was the principal stone contractor for the West Campus of

Duke University, began construction of this house for his own residence in 1932, according to

designs by Charlotte, N.C. architect M. E. Boyer, Jr.  Clement used only the very best materials,

including New York slate, leaded zinc gutters, limestone and flagstone.  The house is timber

framed with the same eight-inch by eight-inch oak beams that were used in the Duke Chapel.

The brick walls are twelve inches thick and the construction of much of the upper stories is

authentic half-timbering with pegged beams and stucco infill.  Cut limestone was used for the

porch surround and the windowsills.  A principal feature of the main facade is the enormous

double-shouldered chimney with polygonal chimney pots.  Clement, who constructed  more

than 200 houses in his career, lived in this house for only two years before financial difficulties

forced him to sell the property.  He was succeeded in the home by Dr. and Mrs. Edwin P. Alyea.  

Dr. Alyea was the first Chief of Urology at Duke Hospital.  A Charlotte landscape architect

landscaped the large yard with multiple terraces and seventy five different kinds of shrubbery.