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Old 06-11-2007, 04:38 PM
 
Location: Austin TX
959 posts, read 4,484,763 times
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A few days ago I went to check out the downtown Durham YMCA. I had been curious about the historic James Manning house that is for sale on N Mangum Street (and has been mentioned recently on the forum) so I wrote down the address for it and took off with my camera and gps I of course ended up taking way more photos than I'd initially intended. I couldn't hop out of the car (unlike a guy I saw on foot carrying a really huge camera that I was quite jealous of) because I had three sleeping little boys with me So I just did my best to look at signs as I went by, and googled to fill in gaps. If you're downtown savvy and see that I have something labeled wrong please let me know!

Here are some websites about historic Durham that I found interesting and/or helpful in my googling for those of you who get a kick out of that kind of thing The Endangered Durham blog is especially fascinating, but also sometimes depressing b/c he'll be telling you about a historic home or building and then show the empty spot where it used to be because it's been demolished :P But there are also many great before and after photos of homes/buildings that have been restored.

History of Durham:
Durham, NC History
Preservation Durham, North Carolina - Durham History (http://www.preservationdurham.org/places/durham_hist.html - broken link)

Endangered Durham - blog with fabulous photos and history of downtown Durham:
Endangered Durham (http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/ - broken link)

Check out this site's interactive maps of downtown Durham (link on the left):
Downtown Durham Inc.: DDI

Our own BullCityRising's blog entries on downtown:
Bull City Rising: Downtown (http://www.bullcityrising.com/downtown/index.html - broken link)

Guide to Historic Neighborhoods:
Preservation Durham, North Carolina - Durham's Historic Neighborhoods (http://www.preservationdurham.org/places/nhoods.html - broken link)

History of Old North Durham neighborhood:
Old North Durham Neighborhood Association



The first photo I took was of The Q Shack, on University Drive, on my way downtown. The pig on the front caught my eye so I turned into a little parking lot to get a photo. It was only then that I realized it was The Q Shack, which is featured on the Decidedly Durham video (which highlights fun things to see and do in Durham). I love their slogan - "BBQ Tender as a Mother's Love"

The Q Shack website - The Original Q SHACK

Decidedly Durham video - Durham: The Bull City







Another photo on University Drive. I believe the bridge is a part of the American Tobacco trail. Right before I took the photo, a cyclist went whizzing by.






This little house on South Roxboro caught my eye. It turns out it's one of many homes for people committed to overcoming an addiction. Check out their website:
TROSA - Triangle Residential Options for Substance Abusers







The following adorable houses were all on Knox Circle, which is a road right by where N Roxboro meets N Mangum. Note the auction sign on the brick one. A victim of foreclosure?














I can't recall what street this particular house was on. Maybe Vista St? I was between taking photos of Knox Circle and N Roxboro.






Here's a house on N Roxboro Street, and the view looking north. Gorgeous gorgeous. I love roads with overhanging trees.








Several homes on N Mangum. My 4yo insisted I take a photo of the fourth one. "Take a picture of that one. It looks like a gingerbread house!"
















Here is the James Manning House, on 911 N Mangum Street and currently for sale. It's aka the "Bull Durham House" as it was Susan Sarandon's home in the movie. See interior photos, the price, and more info about it here:
James S. Manning House, Durham, North Carolina - Historic Homes & Property for Sale @ PreservationDirectory.com







The following houses were on W Geer Street (which intersects N Mangum directly south of the James Manning House). Check out the gorgeous second story garden in the fourth photo (which doesn't do the home justice). I wanted to invite myself over












I *think* this one was on W Corporation Street (which intersects N Mangum a bit south of the James Manning House):






Further west on 324 W Geer Street...here is the Viva La Raza Market:






A very very old building (turns out it was a gas station, see BullCityRising's reply on this thread) on a corner of W Geer Street and Foster Street. Anyone know anything about it? It's cute. I hope someone restores it before it's too late.








The historic Durham Athletic Park on W Geer St. Read about it here:
Durham Athletic Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Quote:
Durham Athletic Park became perhaps the most famous minor league ballpark in history, thanks to a 1988 movie called Bull Durham. The film's star-powered cast included Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon







Stone Bros & Byrd Nursery on the corner of Washington St and W Geer Street. They've been in existence since 1914. That's impressive. See their website here:
stonebrothers.com :: the online destination for all things lawn and garden, including seeds, gifts, foods and power equipment









This was painted on the side of a seemingly random wall on W Geer Street, east of the nursery. I didn't drive around the block to investigate the front of the building.






I bet this place was yummy King's Sandwich Shop on W Geer St at the intersection with Foster. My google of it turned up a theater next door - the Manbites Dog Theater: Manbites Dog Theater - Find Us

I found an article from just a few days ago discussing various downtown businesses, including King's Sandwich Shop. Also mentioned is a new shop that will sell over 100 types of candy and Maple View milk among other goodies Check the article out here:
The Durham News | Shake-ups pump up downtown food market

Here's an excerpt from the article. Look how much a nearby business sold for

Quote:
The empty King's Sandwich Shop on the northwest corner of Foster and Geer streets is waiting for the right price in a rising real-estate market...The hotdog stand closed in December, ending a tradition that began shortly after World War II when High's father and uncle opened the shop...The concrete-block building of about 450 square feet sits on 0.7 acres and has attracted several offers. Nearby properties that were once thought to be dowdy are now pricey...At the turn of the year, the 0.47-acre Nu-Tread property at Foster and Corporation streets sold for $757,500. The tax value was listed at $340,771.







Here's the Scrap Exchange on Foster Street, right near the old old building (car repair shop?) I had a photo of earlier. It sounds really neat. Here's their website and an excerpt:

scrapexchange.com
Quote:
The Scrap Exchange is a 501(c)3 nonprofit creative reuse center. We collect industrial discards and other materials that have a creative reuse component. We send a van out on a weekly basis to collect from businesses, industry, municipalities, and households throughout the Triangle region. The Scrap Exchange relies on donations from people like you to continue to provide our unique and valuable services to the community. As we strive to be a national leader in the creative reuse industry, we need your help.







This little pedestrian bridge caught my eye. It's in front of Central Park, slated for completion by 2010. Here's their website, and an excerpt:
Durham Central Park :: An Urban Park Helping to Revitalize Downtown Durham, NC
Quote:
OUR MISSION
To create a unique, 5-acre urban park for the citizens of Durham that provides a variety of activities, with an emphasis on the arts, and serves as a focus for efforts to rejuvenate the surrounding neighborhood.







Some cityscape. The Suntrust Building, the Marriott, and the Durham Centre.






The Durham Armory, built in the 1930s. Now the Durham Central Civic Center.






The 1948 Chesterfield Building on Duke St, part of the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company complex which is being converted into West Village, which will house condos, office space, and retail.
Preservation Durham, North Carolina - Liggett & Myers Tobacco (http://www.preservationdurham.org/places/tobacco_landm.html - broken link)






A couple of photos of West Village, where a crazy amount of construction is going on. Here's their website and an excerpt:
West Village
Quote:
West Village is a mixed-use, upscale community consisting of the adaptive-reuse of five historic tobacco warehouses built between 1899 and 1926 and located in the Brightleaf District of downtown Durham, North Carolina.









Ogilvy's downtown Durham office
Ogilvy Durham (http://www.ogilvy.com/durham/ - broken link)

BullCityRising posted a photo of the building before it was transformed into Ogilvy, as well as photos of the very pretty Brightleaf shopping area right by it, and West Village:
http://www.city-data.com/forum/ralei...t-village.html
Quote:
Durham's old Studebaker dealership, being renovated as the new regional office for the international ad agency Ogilvy







Duke Memorial United Methodist Church on Duke St. Their website - dukememorial.org








Finally I arrived at the downtown YMCA on 215 Morgan Street. Very classy facility with a zero entry pool and slide for the little kiddies. And a bunch of other stuff YMCA-Durham YMCAs








Across from the YMCA I spotted two more TROSA affiliated buildings on Foster Street. Their frame and furniture shops: TROSA Businesses - Frame Shop (http://www.trosainc.org/businesses/frame/index.htm - broken link)






Another building on Foster Street which surprisingly houses lots of lab equipment. You wouldn't know it to look at the outside but it's the Triangle Biotechnology Center.
Triangle Biotechnology Center | Property | Laboratory Design (broken link)

Behind it you can see the Montgomery & Aldridge Main Warehouse – An old photo of the old Montgomery & Aldridge business which sold car parts and appliances can be found on the Endangered Durham blogsite here:
Endangered Durham: 200 BLOCK S. RONEY (http://endangereddurham.blogspot.com/2007/02/200-block-s-roney.html - broken link)







Lastly, a view of Hope Valley Road as I head home






I hope you enjoyed seeing these photos as much as I did taking them

Last edited by Indigoblue; 06-11-2007 at 05:43 PM..
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Old 06-11-2007, 04:59 PM
 
3,021 posts, read 11,034,492 times
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What an amazing post! Thank you so so much for all of the time and effort you put into this. I especially appreciate your research & all the links you supplied. Marvelous!!!
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Old 06-11-2007, 05:22 PM
 
Location: Durham, NC
2,024 posts, read 5,900,270 times
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Wow! Awesome post, Indigoblue! A couple of quick notes:

1) The beautiful homes at the beginning of the post are mostly in Duke Park and Old North Durham, just to put some context to the names.

2) The gas station in the DAP (old ballpark) district... is a long story. Several local developers are pushing to owner to sell it and let it become a cafe or coffee shop, etc. So far, the person (who IIRC owns a bunch of Family Fares) hasn't been willing to sell. Prices around the DAP are *soaring*, in light of city renovations to the ballpark -- and the tantalizing chance that Minor League Baseball is going to invest $25 million (capital and ongoing endowment) in a national museum for minor league baseball in the area, next to the ballpark.

3) The bridge is indeed part of the northern end of the ATT.

4) The Bull Durham house on N. Mangum is... breathtaking inside. Makes me wish I had $410,000 to spend on buying it.
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Old 06-11-2007, 06:14 PM
 
3,353 posts, read 4,939,706 times
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Love love love those pics. I was driving around Old North Durham again yesterday - pretty sure that's where I will buy - there or Tuscaloosa-Lakewood. The house I posted in another thread (re. vinyl siding) is on Roxboro but I'm not ready to buy. Cute house - the one next to it is identical in style but totally unrenovated and frightful in appearance.

If it goes on the market, it's mine (no siding).
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Old 06-11-2007, 06:44 PM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
5,299 posts, read 8,229,858 times
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Indigo Blue, thanks for taking the time to shoot these great photos and also for the links. Duke Park is one of the neighborhoods I want to check out. Is Hope Valley Road a very busy street?
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Old 06-11-2007, 09:06 PM
 
Location: Austin TX
959 posts, read 4,484,763 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tigerlily View Post
Indigo Blue, thanks for taking the time to shoot these great photos and also for the links. Duke Park is one of the neighborhoods I want to check out. Is Hope Valley Road a very busy street?
Hope Valley Road definitely has a lot of cars on it at all times, but is not what I would consider busy. I don't have a light to get out of my neighborhood onto Hope Valley Road, and I never have to wait long to be able to make a left turn. The only place I've seen it back up is just south of the light at highway 54, where people pile up after coming off of I-40 after work (peaks between 5pm and 6pm).
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Old 09-05-2007, 09:24 PM
 
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I truly love these pictures. Actually, the fifth house after the James Manning house is located at 107 West Geer Street. This is the house that our family lived in for 28 years (1974-2002). The family moved out after my grandmother passed away in December 2002. These pictures are wonderful. But, this house along with other houses on this street have experienced some extensive damages. I have attached a copy of a picture that better represents what this house looked like prior to the death of my grandmother.

Also, the house straight across from our old house is 108 West Geer Street. This is the house where the mother of Shirley Caesar (famous Gospel Singer/Pastor), resided prior to her death. And the house to the left of that house (110 West Geer Street) is where one of Shirley Caesar's sisters resided prior to her death.

There was a time when this was a family-oriented neighborhood. But, times have definitely changed.

Thank you again, for including our "old" house in your photos. I still love this neighborhood and pray that one day it will again be the "family-oriented" neighborhood that we once grew up in. I still drive through the "old" neighborhood occasionally.

Thank You Again!!

Kim

[CENTER] [/CENTER]
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Old 09-05-2007, 09:33 PM
 
Location: Austin TX
959 posts, read 4,484,763 times
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Thank you so much for sharing about your family's house I'm so glad it was one I was able to capture.

Quote:
Originally Posted by robertkm97 View Post
I truly love these pictures. Actually, the fifth house after the James Manning house is located at 107 West Geer Street. This is the house that our family lived in for 28 years (1974-2002). The family moved out after my grandmother passed away in December 2002. These pictures are wonderful. But, this house along with other houses on this street have experienced some extensive damages. I have attached a copy of a picture that better represents what this house looked like prior to the death of my grandmother.

Also, the house straight across from our old house is 108 West Geer Street. This is the house where the mother of Shirley Caesar (famous Gospel Singer/Pastor), resided prior to her death. And the house to the left of that house (110 West Geer Street) is where one of Shirley Caesar's sisters resided prior to her death.

There was a time when this was a family-oriented neighborhood. But, times have definitely changed.

Thank you again, for including our "old" house in your photos. I still love this neighborhood and pray that one day it will again be the "family-oriented" neighborhood that we once grew up in. I still drive through the "old" neighborhood occasionally.

Thank You Again!!

Kim

[CENTER] [/CENTER]
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Old 09-05-2007, 09:39 PM
 
9,848 posts, read 30,205,997 times
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I somehow missed this thread when it was origianlly posted back in June. These picutres are great. I want to go over to the Bull City and check these areas out! Thanks for posting these awesome pics!

~ NRG
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Old 09-05-2007, 09:40 PM
 
3,031 posts, read 9,066,985 times
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Wow. Great photos! I also missed the original thread. I notice you took the photos about 2 days before I came into town for a job interview!
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