2116 Fayetteville Street- Page-Liverpool House

Photograph taken by Heather Slane, National Historic Register Submission, December 2017

From Preservation Durham Historic Plaque Application

Albert and India Page were the owners of 2116 Fayetteville Street when the property was built. The couple never lived in the home and owned it for only four years after it was built. The duplex was largely rented out, likely built to be a rental or boarding house. Numerous laborers lived in the duplex over the years. 

India’s sister, Essie J. Liverpool, owned the home from 1931 to 1951. Essie and her family lived in the property in the early 1950s.

        Essie J. Lassiter Liverpool was born in Wake County, North Carolina, but lived with her husband, Reverend Phillip Roy Liverpool, in Tappahanock, Virginia, for a significant period of her life. While in Virginia, Reverend Liverpool led the Morning Star Baptist Church in Northumberland. While Essie primarily lived in Tappahanock, she spent part of the year in Winton, North Carolina, in her role as matron at the Water’s Training School. The Water’s Training School was a school for African American children, established in 1886 as Chowan Academy. It was originally the sole private school for Black children in Hertford County, North Carolina. In an act to financially save the institution, the state of North Carolina took over the school in 1924 and renamed it to the Water’s Training School.

The Liverpools left a lasting impact on the Tappahanock community. Reverend Liverpool established an annual celebration commemorating the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which he continued to help operate for numerous years. In multiple instances, the event had large turnouts with over 3,000 attendees, and attendees coming from 11 states.  The Liverpools were also both musicians, with Rev. Liverpool teaching music and Essie as the organist for her church. 

The couple eventually moved to Durham, where they spent their final years living at 2116 Fayetteville. Multiple extended family members lived with the couple, including their son,  Wilbur, Wilbur’s wife, Floretta, and Essie’s sister, Esther Lassiter. After Essie died in 1956, the home went to Esther, who lived there until 1960. Ester was also born in Wake County and taught public school in North Carolina. She moved to Massachusetts in her retirement, before moving to Durham and settling at 2116 Fayetteville with her sister for the remainder of her life.

The home was noted to have been split into two apartments in 1952 and is still split today.

Sources:

Carolina Times

“Chowan Academy,” North Carolina Department of Natural Resources, December 4, 2023, https://www.dncr.nc.gov/blog/2023/12/04/chowan-academy-58. 

Free Lance-Star

Herald-Sun

New Journal and Guide

“North Carolina Education - Hertford County,” Almost Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About North Carolina - Its History and Its People, last accessed May 20, 2026, https://www.carolana.com/NC/Education/nc_education_hertford_county.html.

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Previous Entries

Located at the northwest corner of Fayetteville and Nelson streets, this one-story, front-gabled, Minimal Traditional-style duplex is four bays wide and triple-pile. The building has asbestos siding, six-over-six wood-sash windows, and a diamond-shaped vent in the front gable. Six-light-over-two-panel doors on each end of the façade are sheltered by front-gabled porches supported by square columns and connected by an uncovered concrete terrace that extends between the two porches. There are basement-level windows and a basement-level six-light-over-three-panel door on the left (south) elevation, allowed by the change in grade. A hip-roofed wing extends from the left rear (southwest) and there is a shed-roofed porch on square posts at the right rear (northwest). The earliest known occupant is Lena Edwards, a tobacco worker, in 1930. (College Heights National Historic District Nomination)

The 1930 City Directory shows Lena Edwards as residing there; but county deed records do not show her as the owner of the property.  In fact, after reviewing the real estate index and the deed records, the original owner of this property was not able to be verified.  Memories from my childhood (over 60 years) recall several families who resided at this property.  All of them were renters.

County deed records show that on January 19, 2012, Mendoza Mario Ernesto Vilchis bought the property from Dunbar Realty and Insurance Company as rental property  It has remained rental property.