1305 Watts Street

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from A Home in the City: The Trinity Park Fall Home Tour, October 16, 1983:

1305 Watts Street

In 1927 the Few Family built this two-story white frame house as a rental unit. Early on the house was subdivided into two apartments, upstairs and down, and for years was rented to families and students. The house was called the "Dorm Zoo" or "Student House" and was home to as many as eight people before Harriet and Bill Lee bought it in 1981. The house has never been owner occupied until this time.

The Lees tore down partitions between the living room and the sun room and at the top of the stairs. In redoing the kitchen they removed a wall and expanded the room to include what was once a back porch.

Custom dental molding was added on the first floor to enhance the living and dining rooms. A ceiling fan, period wall paper, refinished floors and renovated fireplace mantle give the living room its unique turn-of-the-century ambiance.

Debbie Stine purchased the house from the Lees this July and has continued the remodeling, concentrating on the upstairs bedrooms and bathroom.

Slowly, but surely, what was an eyesore in the neighborhood is being transformed back to its original luster.

From the Preservation Durham Plaque Application (below in italics):

Contributing to the Trinity Park Historic District: Side-gabled bungalow with interior chimney, decorative eave brackets, exposed rafter tails, weatherboard, and 4/1 Craftsman-style sash windows. Other features are a front glazed door, front and rear shed dormers, and an engaged porch with Craftsman posts. (from the Trinity Park Historic District Boundary Increase Form: https://files.nc.gov/historic-preservation/nr/DH2512.pdf) 

While the exact date of construction is unknown, the first city directory mention of the parcel on Watts Street is found alongside Chas B Laws in 1925 (“Watts cor Demerious”) and a Herald-Sun auction advertisement from the same year makes note of the “Chas B. Laws homeplace on Watts Street.” The first city directory mention of the address, 1305 Watts, can be found in 1926. In 1927, Mary R. Few purchased the property at 1305 Watts Street and managed the home as a multi-family rental unit until the deed was transferred to her beneficiaries upon her passing in 1971. 

Mary R. Few, the longest owner of the property, was an engaged and significant member in Durham social and political circles. As the wife of William Preston Few, the first president of Duke University and the fifth president of its predecessor, Trinity College, she had the important duty of hosting and entertaining scholars, politicians, donors, and prospective professors. Beyond her spousal commitments, Mary’s accomplishments include serving as Republican National Committeewoman from North Carolina, winning Durham Mother of the Year in 1952, and being an organizing member of the General Davie Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution. In her business pursuits, Mary  was the president of the Kendrick Estates Investment Corporation and was secretary of the Lakewood Shopping Center. 

A 1931 rental advertisement in the Durham Sun lists 1305 Watts as an “attractive two-story steam heated home” available to rent for $60 a month. The house was originally subdivided into two apartment units, an upstairs and downstairs, and contained eight bedrooms, making it suitable for two families. In 1942, Few was granted permission by the building inspector to make structural changes to convert the home into a three-family structure. 

Based on the occupations listed in the city directories, the home was primarily rented and inhabited by Duke University students and professors. Most tenants were transient, staying for only brief stints, except for Leonard T. Cheek who resided in the home with his wife and three children for nine years.While Cheek himself was not affiliated with the university, his son, Herbert was an enrolled student, a celebrated member of the Duke varsity basketball team, and president of Tombs, a local honorary athletic society. The Cheeks also had two daughters; one of which was a member of the Glee Club at Greensboro College. The other daughter, Dorothy, was tragically killed in an auto accident when she was 21 years old.