Birmingham, George W. Jr.

Birmingham was born in Durham. He served in the Navy (SeaBees) during WWII, building the airstrip in Guam that launched the US nuclear attack on Japan. After the war, he went into the construction business with his father, but they parted ways amicably after a while. From then on, Birmingham built dozens of small, mostly cinder block houses with design touches generally found in larger homes in Durham and managed them as rentals, especially a group of houses on Ashley that would become known as Birmingham Woods.                                                       

He built numerous more traditional homes for prominent Durham citizens all over Durham, many designed by local architects of the period.

During the 1980's, Birmingham exposed incompetence by the City Inspections Department which was subsequently verified and resulted in the resignation of the department head. He led classes for the public on homebuilding and appeared in a 1991 NC Public Television documentary on residential building.

In 1986, he turned the construction company over to his son Andy. During the late 1980's and 1990's, he was locally famous as a private building inspector. If you were the buyer, you wanted George on your team. He was known for finding hidden problems in houses that were (usually unintentionally) covered up by present or past owners. He served as expert witness in several lawsuits, one winning $930,000 in damages.

Other more traditional houses built by Birmingham Construction include:

1951 - 2413 Perkins, Durham.
1951 - 2710 Stuart, Durham.
1951 - 3010 Surrey, Durham.
1952 - 1121 Anderson, Durham.
1955 - 2705 Dogwood, Durham.
1956 - 3317 Rugby, Durham.
1957 - 32 Beverly, Durham.
1957 - 1101 Vickers, Durham
1959 - 1109 Vickers, Durham.
1960 - 2740 McDowell, Durham.
1961 - 1631 Marion, Durham.
1961 - 3605 Rugby, Durham.
1962 - 2818 Chelsea, Durham.
1963 - 3515 Darwin, Durham.
1962 - 3000 Devon, Durham.
1963 - 2512 Sevier, Durham.
1964 - 3915 Nottaway, Durham.
1965 - 3851 Somerset, Durham.
1966 - 23 Clover Place, Durham.
1966 - 4011 Nottaway, Durham.
1966 - 1528 Pinecrest, Durham.
1966 - 1532 Pinecrest, Durham.
1967 - 3612 Darwin, Durham.