Foy J. Shaw House

(The information below is from the Historic Preservation Society of Durham Plaque Application for the Foy J. Shaw House)

The Barrett L. and Nancy Hare Robbins family are the third owners of this 79-year old residence and the fourth tenants. Foy and Nola Shaw, its first owners', lived in the house for twenty-two years with a daughter and son, then rented it out from 1950-1975 to Marshall and Sally Spears; Marshall Spears was a prominent lawyer in Durham NC. Why did a successful attorney rent a house for 25 years? The story goes that Marshall and Sally couldn't agree on what type of house, or which, to buy, so they rented 2105 Englewood Avenue. In 1975, they finally decided to buy a house in Hope Valley (Durham NC); however, when Marshall's mother died the following year, they moved into her home in Trinity Park / (Durham NC) and kept the house in Hope Valley for almost two decades more, but never returned to live in it3. Charles Eric Shepherd and Olive M. Shepherd succeeded Nola T. Shaw as owners of 2105 Englewood Avenue in 1976. They had lived most of their married lives in two other houses on Englewood Avenue; but Mrs. Shepherd had always fancied 2105, so when it came on the market, they bought it (1976) and moved in with their youngest daughter, Jean, a teenager. The Shepherds raised three daughters—each ten years apart in age-on Englewood Avenue: Ann (Mrs. Ernest H. Ferrell - the eldest), Mamie (Mrs. Albert Gray Sullivan), and Jean (Mrs. Lance H. Bernard - the youngest). In 1983, Mr. Shepherd died suddenly of a viral infection; Olive continued to live in their home until her death in 19974. The Barrett L. & Nancy Hare Robbins family, who had moved from western Massachusetts to a rental house across the street in July 1995, bought 2105 Englewood Avenue from the estate of Olive M. Shepherd in October 1997. They and their daughter Eliza moved into it five months before the birth of their second daughter, Lily.