602 Holloway / Ferrell-Moore House

35.994286, -78.89061

602
Durham
NC
Cross Street
Year built
1898
Year(s) modified
1920-1940
Neighborhood
Building Type
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The house at 602 Holloway was constructed in the late 19th century by James Ferrell (also associated with the two houses profiled yesterday, 606 and 610 Holloway. After moving to Liberty St. in the early 1900s, Ferrell gave this house to his daughter's family - Lydie and Marvin Moore. According to the historic inventory, Marvin Moore was secretary-treasurer of the Southern Land and Lumber Co. The Moores expanded the house towards the rear as their family grew (to 11 children.)

At some point, this house was stripped of its original detail, likely sometime between the 1920s and 1940s.

In the 1960s, it became a rooming house.

 

 

 

 

 


Looking south, 1964

During the late 1960s, the house was moved several feet to the east when Elizabeth St. was widened.

Really, only the roofline reflects the original character of the house at this point. Vinyl, and those terrible plastic tack-on shutters don't help. The proximity to Elizabeth St. is harsh on this house. It is owned by Housing for New Hope, which uses this house as transitional housing for up to 16 recently homeless men. (The organization calls this house "Phoenix House")

 

 

 

 

 


Looking southeast, 2007.

 

602Holloway_021911.jpg

02.19.11

Update: For sale as of March 2014 for $119K. Cleveland-Holloway has come a long way over the past few years, and perhaps that's enough to overcome the smack-dab-up-against-Elizabeth situation of the house. It's certainly a gut job for anyone who wants to redevelop this as residential.

Comments

"The proximity to Elizabeth St. is harsh on this house."

G -- can you tell us more what this means? There could be a variety of interpretations!

Phil

No deep comment intended; proximity to ugly too-wide roads simply doesn't inspire people to put money into improving historic housing. I think there is a neighborhood psychology to the proximity of negative and positive influences - if your neighbors have a place that is boarded up and decrepit, you're less likely to put money into your house to make it nice in appearance (unless you have some confidence that the situation outside your control will change.) I think Elizabeth St. is that blighting neighbor, and not one that one could feel confident is going to be improved. (It needs to be re-narrowed, but convincing someone to pay for that will be hard.)

I would kill to have a house with a side porch. I can't imagine why anyone would rip one off. I suppose it needed some expensive repair, but it still offends me.

I'm with you on the side porch, JP. Hard to understand what people were thinking in demolishing / removing some of this stuff.

GK

It's now for sale for $119,000.  If you think someone has messed up the exterior, wait until you see what they've done inside.  You can see pictures on any real estate website.  The listing agent is Marie Austin.  Here's a sample:Image removed.

 

 

I don't think this house was moved when Elizabeth was widened. I think that the home may have lost it's west porch at that time, though. I have recently been underneath looking at the structure for the new owners. The front original portion of the home is still resting on what appear to be original piers (old clay bricks and old lime sand mortar). If it was moved, it must have been moved very early on. Anecdotally, I have found that bricks were mostly all hard-fired by the 1920's and even earlier than that, it seems that folks had switched over to more Portland cement based mortars. Ken Gasch

This house belonged to R.G. "Bob" Thacker in the early 70's. He had a Antique shop there, and lived in the east part of the downstairs. He rented the front right upstairs room, facing the house.

Yes, the widening of Elizabeth St. really wacked off the yard. So much if shown the image here, I would not recognize it as the same house.  I do remember that at that time, there was not a side porch on the house.

Bob was active in the AA for many years, and had a home for Alcoholics set up a few blocks toward Downtown on Holloway. A super guy --- I called him 'Pops." My girlfriend worked for him in the Antique store. He was like a Father to me. Great times!!

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