Chateauesque Revival

George Watts House - Harwood Hall

Harwood Hall, 1920s. (From "Favored by Fortune" by Howard Covington) The title of Howard Covington's book about the Watts and Hills of Durham- "Favored by Fortune" - seems somewhat trite at first glance, but it is an apt description of George Watts' entry into the gentry of Durham. When your father buys you a 1/5 share in the Duke and Sons Tobacco...

George Lyon House

~1903 (Colonial Southern Homes by Barrett, Charles W.) Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/colonialsouthern00barr The Lyon-Williams house was built in 1902-03 for George L. Lyon. The Saturday, March 22, 1902, Charlotte Observer reported: "Mr. George L. Lyon has given the contract for the erection of a beautiful home on Morehead avenue to Mr...

Greystone

(Duke RBMC) Greystone was built in 1911 for James Stagg. Norman Underwood was the contractor and CC Hook the architect; it's no surprise that this house strongly resembled B.N. Duke's Four Acres, built 5 blocks away by the same team during the same year, although it was smaller of the two. I was writing figuratively when I wrote earlier in the week...

Four Acres - B.N. Duke Home

Built on a full 4 acre block, and replacing his earlier mansion, "The Terrace," Four Acres was Benjamin Duke's chateau-esque estate in the core of Durham. After Duke's death in 1929, the house became an event venue / alumni house for Duke University, until they cast it aside in the 1960s. It was demolished in 1961 and replaced with the NC Mutual tower.