Dr. Lyle Steele Booker House

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

(The information below in italics is from the Preservation Durham Plaque Application for the Dr. Lyle Steele Booker House)

A Sanborn map from 1913 still shows the name of the street as Guess Road, and the lot, on the corner of Gloria Avenue, is still empty, as are neighboring lots of George W. Watts property, except for Watts Hospital. The house was presumably built slightly later, between 1915 and 1917, by Telphor Hinton Lawrence (11/3, 1889-8/6. 1936), a general contractor, who built several other houses in Trinity Park, too.' The National Register of Historic Places Inventory- Nomination Form describes the house in this way: 
"It is distinguished by bungalow elements of wide eaves, a stepped single-shoulder chimney with paneled stack which pierces the eaves on the South side, a full-façade porch upheld by brick on stone pliths, and a porte-cochere on the north side. Unusual drop pendants appear in the eaves." The land is lot 11 of the George W. Watts Property, as in Plat Book 3 at page 62.The first owner was Lyle Steele Booker (b. 23 Sep 1883, Augusta County, Va; d. 10 Aug 1956, Waynesboro, VA), who purchased the land. The City directory of 1917 lists him for 116 Buchanan Boul. (1915 still lists him for 402 Morris). Booker had been born in Augusta County, Virginia, received his medical education at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond, and done postgraduate work in surgery at Johns Hopkins University and Polyclinic Hospital, New York City. He moved to Durham, where he was on the surgical staff of Duke University and Watts Hospital

Booker married twice: his first wife, Annie Mae, née Corbett (1890-1924), whom he had married in 1911, died in 1924; his second wife, Katherine Amrhein (Nov. 24, 1893 - Mar. 21, 1982), whom he married in 1925, outlived him by more than 25 years. Reportedly, Booker performed the first surgery at the then newly built Duke University Hospital. He was a highly respected surgeon and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. He also played an important role in the community of Durham, as a member of (Masonic) Lodge 352 and the Presbyterian Church, and, perhaps more prominently, as owner of the Durham Bulls Baseball team from 1926-1931.4 Reportedly, "he always wanted to make money." In this context, he developed a residential neighborhood that was to be called "Booker Heights" (and is now called the Rockwood neighborhood), the area between Woodridge Drive, University Drive and Cornwallis Road, or an area south of University Drive. The project was unsuccessful; the Alamance Insurance and Real Estate Company, which took over the development, returned the unsold houses to Booker in 1929. Booker fell into financial distress during the economic crisis and mortgaged the house to First National Bank of Durham.7 The house was put to auction after Booker failed to pay the debt to the First National Bank of Durham and was acquired through highest bid by the New York Life Insurance Company in 1934, though the Company was not registered as owner before 1936. Booker moved with his family to Virginia in 19358 or 19379, where he continued to practice as a doctor at the Waynesboro Community Hospital. 1011 In 1942 he declared bankruptcy 12. He died in 1956.

After the New York Life Insurance Company took ownership of the house and presumably rented it out. Perhaps the most illustrious tenant of the house was Donald Walton Lynch, father of filmmaker David Lynch (Dec. 4, 1915 - Dec 4, 2007), who appears in the street dictionary and also gives "116 Buchanan Rd" as his address in his 1940 draft card. Lynch had grown on up on a family farm in Montana and had come to Durham to get a degree in forestry from Duke University; he later served in the Navy in World War II. His more famous son David was born after the Durham years (1946) after Donald had moved back to Montana (the picture is presumably from there.

The next owners of the house were the Carver family: Gordon M Carver, a cashier with Durham Industrial Bank, and Lula Thorne Carver, an assistant cashier, at the same bank. While little is known about them, their son, Gordon M. Carver jr, is more famous: He was one of the top all-around athletes ever to attend Duke University. From 1941-45, he earned nine varsity letters at Duke - four in football, three in basketball and two in track.). He captained Duke's first ever football bowl win in the Sugar Bowl 1944, Duke's first ever football bowl win (29- 26 over Alabama), which he assured with an ankle- grabbing tackle on the last play. He also helped the basketball team to the title game for the Southern Conference three times (the team won in 1944).14. Carver went on to Duke Medical School and later became a surgeon at Duke University. 

From ca 1944-1947, the house was owned by Hubert Lewis Deans, electrician and salesman with Noland Company (b. Wilson, NC, 12/29/1905; d. 11/15/1977, Durham NC), and Helen G Deans (b. 12/04/1908, d. 8/22/1993). After that, until 1950, Edwin Michael Holt owned the house, a General Manager, Erwin Mills. Holt appears to come from the family of Edwin Michael Holt (1807-1884), who had been a textile mill owner,15 as was his son William Edwin Holt. 

In 1950, the house changed owners again, ownership now went to Augustus Burns Elkins (b. Oct 6, 1894 in Chatham County; died May 8, 1951 in Boone, IA17; and Sarah ("Curley") Viola Kenyon Elkins (later Warren), b. June 5, 1896 in NC; died May 28, 1959 in Durham.18 Augustus was the President of Elkins Motor Company, which he had moved from Mebane (where it was founded) to Durham in 1933.19 The couple had first lived at 1020 Minerva Ave.20 After Augustus' death, two of his sons became its proprietors, while Curley remained vice-president. Documents confirm that she married William Franklin Warren (b. Apr 26, 1887, d. Feb 11, 1979)21, a salesman at Christian-Harward Furniture, who had lost his first wife in 1953, and moved into the house (as per City Directory of 1958), though both of them are buried with their first spouses, and her cousin has disputed that the later marriage took place.

After a brief period, in which the Durham Bank and Trust Company held ownership (1956- 59) the house passed to Alberta Boone Harrell (b. Oct 28, 1896, d. May 18, 1986).24 Harrell moved in after the death of her husband Stanley Claudius Harrell (b. 6/1/1890, d. 7/12/1956) 25, a 1912 graduate of Elon College 26 pastor at Durham Christian and Congregational Church and President of the Southern Christian Convention,27 after his retirement editor of the Christian Sun. 28 The couple had previously lived at 1010 W Markham Avenue (the Massey-Harrell House).29 Alberta purchased 116 N Buchanan Blvd slightly before Stanley's death in 1956 and after their only daughter, Mary Ann Harrell (b. 1/7/1932, d. 7/7/2013) had taken up a job in Washington DC.30, and lived there until her own death in 1986. Both spouses were graduates of Elon College, and her father, her brother, and Stanley C Harrell had all been members of the Elon Board of Trustees (her father, as chairman), which explains why she transferred the property to Elon College while retaining life estate rights. 31 When she got older she lived downstairs and rented out the upstairs floor. 

From 1986 to 1994, the house was owned by John Scott Wells, a financial adviser, and Lua Martin Wells, a French teacher. (The couple later moved to Mt Pleasant where they still live.) I ua Martin Wells is the niece of Hugh Martin, who wrote "Have yourself a merry little Christmas".

In 1994, Ellen G Gartrell and Jack E Gartrell purchased the house. They rented out the basement to students. The current owners, Stefanie Kandzia and Ralf Michaels, purchased the house in 2003, after moving to Durham from Germany. Ralf is a law professor at Duke University; Stefanie worked as an attorney.
 

04.30.11