208-210 East Parrish Street

35.994601, -78.8987

208-210
Durham
NC
Construction type
Neighborhood
Building Type
Can you help?
You don't need to know everything, but do you know the year it was built?
Log in or register and you can edit this.



208 E. Parrish


210 E. Parrish

There's not a lot of info about the 200 block of East Parrish St., and a lack of early pictures. The only pictures I have are from the mid-late 1960s, in the waning days of these buildings.

200EParrish_E_1960s.jpg

Looking east from Church and E. Parrish.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

For those of you who remember the Record Bar chain (not sure when they folded, but they were pretty pervasive here in the early 90s) this was the original. One history book notes that this was at one time a small hotel, known as the Hotel Arthur.

The following pictures catalog the block, starting with the Record Bar/Hotel Arthur, and moving east.


116-118 North Church St.


206 E Parrish


212 E. Parrish


214 E. Parrish


216-218 E. Parrish


220-224 E. Parrish


A view from the eastern end of the block, looking southwest, 1966.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)


By the late 1960s / early 1970s, these buildings had been taken and demolished by Durham - Renowned the World Around for Tearing Buildings to the Ground - using urban renewal funds, along with the remainder of the block. To some extent, this entire block fell victim to the pipe dreams of an Oklahoma developer named - Barket, and the anxiousness of a city to do whatever it could to a attract a developer who promised a 40 story building to be constructed in downtown Durham on the block between E. Main, Church, N. Roxboro, and E. Parrish Sts.


Barket's rendering of the 40 story building to sit at 200 East Main St., 07.16.68
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun)

The on-again-off-again flirtation between the city and Mr. Barket persisted throughout the later half of the 1960s, until he finally pulled out, never to be heard from again.

In 1978, the city built a new impervious courthouse on the block, designed by Archie Royal Davis, which looms, Death-Star-like, over the street,  flying back to the swamp to house the Legion of Doom at night. . I don't know whether the design direction was "try to intimidate people into avoiding the courtroom," but that's the vibe it gives me. It's among my least favorite buildings in Durham.


Under construction, 1978

It ain't any better from the back.


Looking southeast from Church and East Parrish, 2007.

Comments

The 1915 directory of Durham lists this building as the address of the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company.

Add new comment

Log in or register to post comments.