Designed by George Watts Carr, Pinecrest was built in 1928 for developer James Cobb, in the western portion of the Forest Hills neighborhood that both men were involved in creating. This and the following photos show the house as it neared completion in early 1928. (Courtesy of James D.B.T. Semans) Pinecrest was purchased by the Duke family in 1934...

William and Louise Thomas, who owned and operated the Thomas Bookstore across from the Washington Duke Hotel downtown, built the house in the late 1940s. Durham auto repair magnate Donny Sorrell and his wife Fannie purchased it in 1960, and lived here until the mid-1990s.

This Tudor Revival style house is one of a row of three similar houses on the west side of Hermitage Court, and was built around 1927 for Richard and Elizabeth Slattery, owner of Durham Building Supply. Slattery may have been providing materials for the construction of Duke University's West Campus, since similar materials and commercial building techniques are found in his house and on the campus.

Construction began on this house for William Griffin and his family in 1940, although the traditional colonial architecture might suggest it was much earlier. It is, in fact, a revival piece designed by George Watts Carr.

It is believed by Hope Valley residents that this is one of the original Mebane and Sharpe "spec houses" and that it was designed by George Watts Carr, architect for the original seven spec homes built between 1927 and 1929. According to city records, however, this house was built in 1930, and William Pearlzweig and his wife were not associated with this property until March 1931.

In 1930, Dr. Paul M. Gross was a relatively new chemistry professor at Duke when he and his wife, Gladys, moved from Trinity Park to Hope Valley. Their new house, in the English Cottage style, was designed by George Watts Carr, as one of the original "seed" houses commissioned by Hope Valley's developers, the Mebane & Sharpe Company.

This charming little house is like no other in Hope Valley and, architecturally speaking, it is one of the most significant houses in Durham. What makes it so special, of course, is its high-style Spanish Eclectic design.

A listing for this address first appears in the Durham city directory in 1957 under the name of Mr. Herbert Hussey. Surprisingly, no house had been built on this plot of land by 1956, so Mr. Hussey and his wife acquired this sizable piece of property with an exquisite view overlooking the golf course relatively late in the community's development.

From the 1998 Preservation Durham tour booklet: George Watts Carr, leading architect for many of the elegant homes in Forest Hills, designed this house for Parks Alexander and his wife Josephine. Alexander founded Alexander Motor Company, Durham's first Ford Agency, located on East Main Street. This house, built of dark red brick, stone and half...

This Colonial revival house was built for Thomas C. Worth in the 1920s. Worth was a successful banker. Designed by architects Northrup and O'Brien of Winston- Salem and Durham, the house's exterior is classically symmetrical with five bays under a mansard roof.