WILLIAM N. PATTERSON HOUSE
WILLIAM N. PATTERSON HOUSE
3323
Watkins Road
, Durham
NC
built in
1840
/ demolished in 1994-2005
Architectural style:
Construction type:
Neighborhood:
Type:
Use:
Recent Comments
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My grandfather, Dr. George T., by Claire Sullivan... at Fri, 11/04/2011 - 10:58am
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Heartbreaking. So little, by Phil at Sat, 11/05/2011 - 10:16pm
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Jim Wise has a recent article, by Andrew Edmonds. at Wed, 02/22/2012 - 9:49am
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Last updated
- Tue, 10/25/2011 - 9:43pm by gary
Location
United States
35° 57' 14.0328" N, 78° 59' 12.8148" W
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Comments
My grandfather, Dr. George T. Watkins, Jr., bought the farm (or at least 120 acres including the house and barn) from L.G. Pendergrass in 1930, thus the name Watkins Road. His primary residence was 310 Watts Street in Trinity Park (where I grew up) but he kept horses at the farm and according to my mother went to ride them every morning before making house calls and rounds at Watts Hospital. I can remember going to visit the farm as a child when my Uncle Henry lived in the house for a brief time. My grandfather was an internist who set up his practice in Durham after serving in WW I . He later partnered with his youngest brother, Dr. William Watkins. His brother Basil M. Watkins was an attorney in Durham and their father, Dr. George T. Watkins was the minister at Grace Baptist Church for many years. The family was originally from Roxboro and all followed my grandfather to town.
Dr. Watkins, Jr. died in 1948 before I was born and my grandmother, mother and uncles sold the farm land in parcels in the 1960s. When I was a child the family owned land on both sides of 15-501 beginning at the intersection of Garrett Road and going west towards Chapel Hill to the intersection of Watkins Road and Mt. Moriah Road.
Heartbreaking.
So little remains of the antebellum construction that once existed in what is now Durham County.
Leigh Farm is one important site, and I'm glad that it's still around:
http://opendurham.org/buildings/leigh-farm?full
I drove by (for the first time) this weekend. Two halves of the former Amtrack Station (aka "AmShack") are at the edge of the site, boarded up and awaiting deployment.
Jim Wise has a recent article in The Durham News about the parcel across SW Durham Drive to the west.
http://www.thedurhamnews.com/2012/02/19/211258/commercial-development-ok...
Gateway Terrace was back before the Durham Planning Commission last week and, just as in 2008, a plan got a go-ahead vote. Not that anyone said what the plan was, but it is the future of a 6.4-acre anomaly framed by Chapel Hill Boulevard, Southwest Durham Drive and the stub that's left of Watkins Road.
In a vista where everything that isn't a highway or shopping center is still thick woods, Gateway Terrace is basically a vacant lot. Most of its area is open, strewn with straw to encourage grass to grow.
"Gateway Terrace is located along a very important commercial corridor," said attorney Patrick Byker, speaking for the Atlas Real Estate of Raleigh. In time, it will be "creating much-needed jobs for Durham County." Similar predictions were made four years ago. Then, landowners Anuj and Vinita Mittal, proposed a 68,000-square-foot hotel and restaurant, with landscaping befitting a major entrance into Durham. That didn't work out. The mostly wooded land waited, until someone complained of homeless people using it for a campground. To put a stop to that, the Mittals' Atlas Real Estate invited the Durham Fire Department to burn the buildings down for training purposes, and hired a contractor to clear the trees away from them. The contractor cleared more than he was hired to. Hence the property's current aspect.
Byker said planned landscaping will still befit "a top-quality development," but was vague about the rest of the plans. Some commissioners asked about grading and tree protection. "Because of the economy we're not in a position to make commitments as to layout," Byker said. Commissioner Rebecca Boardman asked about sign standards. "I don't believe we're in a position to offer any more commitments," Byker said. Sidewalks? Couldn't commit. And as for Gateway Terrace itself, there was no mention of a hotel. The project is now simply described as "unspecified commercial development" of anywhere from 20,000 to 300,000 square feet.
Mind you, no commitments.
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