1111 Fayetteville, 1962.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)
Looking north on Fayetteville St. from Umstead St., 1922
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection / Scanned by Digital Durham)
The east side of the 1100 block of Fayetteville St. was exclusively residential until the 1950, when a medical office building was built at the southern end of the block. 1111 Fayetteville was built for Dr. Leroy Russell Swift to act as offices for his private practice as an obstetrician/gynecologist on the first floor, and for his family’s private residence on the second floor.
Dr. Swift was the first African-American man certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Southeast. When he was certified in 1951, he was one of fewer than 12 African American surgeons in the whole country. Dr. Swift earned his B.S. and medical degrees from Howard University and received a Master's degree in Public Health from the University of Michigan in 1942. Shortly after he received his Master’s degree, he moved to Durham to head the newly formed school of public health at North Carolina College, now North Carolina Central University. He was the head of the program from 1942 to 1970. In 1969, Swift was hired as a consultant for the U.S. Public Health Service Bureau of Health Professions Education and Manpower Training, Department of Health, Education and Welfare for his successful leadership of the public health program at NCC. He was also the director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Lincoln Hospital from 1947-1966.
Dr. Swift also helped address the shortage of physicians in Durham due to World War II. He worked out of Dr. R.P. Randolph’s offices at 417 Pine while Dr. Randolph was away during the war, serving as a captain in the Army Medical Corps. When Dr. Randolph returned, Dr. Swift set out to build his own offices, which led to the building of 1111 Fayetteville. Dr. Randolph also had an office in 1111 Fayetteville when it was first built. Dr. Swift also lived with his second wife, Charlie Killian Swift, in the building's upstairs portion. Charlie was a staff member of NCCU as the House Directress, later becoming the Director for Relocation for the Durham Urban Renewal Program. She then worked for the Office of Economic Opportunity as the Project Manager of the two largest Job Corp Training Centers in the country.
Dr. Swift was highly recognized throughout his career. He became a fellow of the International College of Surgeons in 1956, which meant he had fulfilled the requirements of “...having engaged in the practice of surgery for a sufficient time to have acquired maturity of experience and high standards of surgical competence…” He was the president of the Durham Academy of Medicine starting in 1955. He was also one of the doctors throughout the United States, and of 17 African American doctors, to attend a trip to study health and preventative healthcare in the Soviet Union in 1960.
In 1975, he returned to New York after accepting the role of medical director of the Family Health Program for the Human Resources Administration. It seems he returned to his practice at 1111 Fayetteville in 1984, according to newspaper advertisements. Dr. Swift passed away in 1995.
Dr. Edward J. Clemmons bought 1111 Fayetteville for his dental practice in 1991. The practice officially opened in 1993.
The building was also used as the headquarters for Project RAPP (Researching Adolescents, Parents, and Peers), conducted by numerous local entities, including Duke and North Carolina Central universities, University of Chapel Hill’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and a Durham Interagency Council. Project Rapp was created to “...reduce violent behavior, early and unprotected sexual activity, and substance use and abuse among middle school students...”
Looking north from Umstead St., 11.15.08.
Sources:
The Durham Sun
The Herald Sun
The Carolina Times
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35.983315,-78.898534
Comments
Submitted by Andrew Edmonds (not verified) on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 1:35pm
Gary, would you occasionally add some text to your posts from the Urban Renewal assessment reports of these structures?
The scope of Hayti destruction is numbing when presented on an atom-by-atom level, of course. I realize that Fayetteville Street was the main drag and likely to have the most impressive (and well-maintained) homes in Hayti, but it's difficult to reconcile the idea of a vast, blighted neighborhood with the 1962 image of 1105 Fayetteville, with its nicely manicured hedges.
The fact that this (seemingly historically unremarkable) home barely registers a description on your blog underscores, to me at least, this disconnect between what we thought we knew about Durham's history and the photographic evidence.
A few sprinkles from the property assessments might cast some light on this disparity. (Or is it all sheer madness?!)
Submitted by Gary (not verified) on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 1:57pm
Andy
I don't have the urban renewal assessment reports for the structures - I spent a lot of long nights scanning the photos, but i did not scan the full reports, because of the time involved. I believe that Lynn Richardson is working with some other volunteers to begin scanning the actual reports.
I'm not sure they would shed a great deal of light on this process - they tend to derive what they felt was a fair market value from rent or comparables, and they give a very brief description of the condition of the structure. "In bad disrepair", etc. When the structures are in good shape from the photo, they tend to use descriptions like "functionally obsolescent."
I'm doing the best I can with descriptions - none of this exists in another secondary form, so I'm piecing things together from the city directories, sanborn maps, aerials, urban renewal photos, etc. I've never viewed this as a static work, so perhaps others will be able to fill in more detail about people who lived and worked in a specific house. I view it as more important to get a framework published, with as much information as I can, and hang more information on those branches as it arises.
Part of my reason for doing all of this is what I felt was a primary failing of the Historic Inventory - the lack of any information about what was gone. I understand the reasons for that, but how can we talk intelligently about the architectural history of Durham when no one in the city knows much of anything about the places that are gone? Most of what historical record we have is slanted towards downtown and Duke/the Duke penumbra.
I do plan to do some work on the more impoverished areas of Hayti and their poor conditions - I've scanned all of those photos as well. I won't do it all, because it would take a year, and it's even more numbing. But it should help to provide an understanding as to what would have motivated progressive people to believe that something needed to be done to 'improve' housing conditions for people living in Hayti.
GK
Submitted by Steve (not verified) on Fri, 11/21/2008 - 2:31pm
Once again, nice work.
The building at 1111 sure stands out! I found myself in suspense over whether or not it would turn out to be bulldozed as I read/viewed your post, since it seemed like a newer "moderne" structure. But alas! It still exists!
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