Institutional

View of the former Wyche House, now the Royall Center at NC School of Science and Mathematics

Wyche House - Watts Hospital

(The information below in italics is from the Historic Preservation Society of Durham Plaque Application for the Wyche House) Built in Spanish Mission style by George W. Watts for the Watts School of Nursing. Kendall, Taylor & Co of Boston, Architects. Named for superintendent Mary Wyche Rehabilitated in 2003 for N.C. School of Science and...

South-facing entrance of Walltown Park Recreation Center, January 2023

Walltown Park Recreation Center

A multipurpose Durham Parks and Recreation facility hosting a full slate of community programs and events, the present structure was built from 2009-2011 on the site of an older community center that dated back to 1949. More information about facilities and programming is available on the DPR website.

Welfare Department

"Public Welfare" was established in Durham in 1919, after passage of the Public Welfare Law by the NC General Assembly. Prior to that time, 'welfare' (and I'm not sure what it entirely consisted of at that point) was managed by the Salvation Army.

Nature / Children's Museum - Northgate Park

Built in the 1930s for park ranger use, the so-called Lavender House in Northgate Park was the mid-1940s home of the Durham Children's Museum, before it moved to larger quarters and eventually became the Museum of Life and Science. Long used for storage, the wooden frame was demolished after repeated flooding in 2014, with the stonework left behind as a kind of memorial.

Seaboard Air Line / Norfolk Southern Railroad Station

Looking northwest, 1950s. (Courtesy Herald-Sun) Prior to the construction of Union Station, all of the railroads has separate passenger depots along the railroad tracks. One of these was the Durham and Northern, formed in 1887, which became the Seaboard Railroad. While Union Station consolidated these, the Seaboard continued to have a separate passenger depot at the foot of Dillard St. (at the railroad tracks.)

Bassett Dormitory

A dormitory named for Professor John Spencer Bassett, most well-known for the 'Bassett Affair"

Lake Ridge Aero Park

Not everyone is aware that there is an airport subdivision in eastern Durham county; Lake Ridge Airport, on the shore of Falls Lake near the Durham County line is Durham County's own little airport - no having to share it with the "R" next door. Residences have their backyards facing on the airstrip - I presume if you enjoy door-to-door convenience with your small plane, this is ideal. 10.10.10

Forest Hills Clubhouse

The center of the Forest Hills community and the golf course in the 1920s, the clubhouse would become a school, a library, and a community center in subsequent lives.

Avila Retreat Center

The main entrance to the Avila Retreat Center, 7.28.2019 (N. Levy) In 1957, a widowed schoolteacher named Lola Latta Terry and her son sold over forty acres west of the road to Roxboro to the Carmelite order of Catholic nuns, who appear to have begun building this facility soon thereafter. It remained in the possession of the Carmelites until 1980...

King's Daughters Home

Second King's Daughters Home, soon after construction (mid-1920s) --- "Old Ladies' Home", ~1910, looking northeast from Gloria Ave. (From "Images of America: Durham" by Stephen Massengill The International Order of the King's Daughters and Sons, per the organization's website, was founded January 13, 1886, as "an organization of Christian men and...