1501 Fayetteville Street – James B. and Annie C. Alston House

James B. Alston was the first occupant of the house, after which it was named. He was born in North Carolina around 1891 and worked as an insurance agent, as well as the proprietor of Morgan Street Cafe. On June 3, 1908, he married Annie Cates, daughter of Martha and Anderson Cates. Annie was born one year after James and was a teacher at Hillside Park High School. She is the mother of James’s son, Harvey C. Alston. She died from illness on November 15, 1939, in Lincoln Hospital, while James died later in 1951.

Harvey was born on September 20, 1912, and he became the owner of the house after his father, James, passed away in 1951. He was head custodian at Hillside Park High School, where he received much recognition for his janitorial and electrical work. He lived there with his second wife, Eliza Alston, who was born in Kentucky. After she died in 1983, Harvey remained in the house until his death seven years later. 

Reverend Andrew William Lawson, the Executor of the Estate of Harvey, and a prominent religious leader in the Durham area, then acquired the house. He was a former president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance of Durham, former dean and president of United Christian College in Goldsboro, and former president of Western North Carolina District Convocation of the United Holy Church of America. He worked at the Durham Housing Authority and Durham Public Schools, and served as a bishop of the United Holy Church of America, Inc. He was also the author of several books and held degrees from Livingstone College and Shaw University.  On July 24, 1932, he married Grace Owen Lawson and became the pastor of Fisher Memorial United Holy Church of America in 1944. Rev. Andrew Lawson died on April 26, 1981.

The house was then passed to his son, Andrew Lawson Jr., who was a member and Elder of Fisher Memorial United Holy Church. He graduated from Hillside High School in 1958 and married his first wife, Blondina, on June 28, 1962. Blondina worked for the Durham public library and was a representative for the Central Labor Union, while Andrew worked for Durham Housing Authority and Durham Public Schools. After divorcing Blondina in April of 1986, he remarried Mary Louise Fischer in October of the same year. After Andrew died in 2008, Mary became the most recent occupant of the house.

As of 2026, the property is in good, stable condition.

Sources: 

Herald-Sun

From Stokesdale National Register Nomination: 
This two-story, hip-roofed house is two bays wide and double-pile with a projecting two-story gable on the right end of the façade and a projecting canted bay on the south elevation. There is a one-story, sidegabled ell on the north elevation with a low, hip-roofed block behind the ell. A gabled rear ell extends from the southeast corner of the house with a shed-roofed block north of the ell. The house has a painted brick pier-and-curtain-wall foundation and original molded wood weatherboards throughout with vinyl siding on the projecting front gable and the south elevation. It has three brick chimneys, two interior chimneys and an exterior brick chimney on the rear ell. It has one-over-one replacement windows throughout and an original one-light-over-one-panel front door with sidelight. The front porch extends across the entire façade and wraps around the one-story ell on the north elevation; it is supported by tapered wood post and has an original wood railing. The porch is accessed by brick stairs with brick knee walls. A concrete-block retaining wall extends across the front of the property and along the north side, along Price Street. The earliest known occupant is James B. Alston (shoemaker) in 1925.