GLOBE WAREHOUSE

The Globe Tobacco Warehouse was built in 1885 and located on the north side of West Main St., between the Duke Factory and Five Points and adjacent to the railroad tracks.


(Courtesy Duke Archives - digitized by Digital Durham)

By the 1920s the building had become a Norfolk and Western freight depot.


(Courtesy Duke Archives)

A view of the back of the warehouse, looking southeast towards Main St. and Great Jones St.

(Courtesy Duke Archives)

A view from the Five Points Drug Company, looking west up Main Street. The Globe Warehouse is on the right side of the street.

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

It can be seen at the right edge of this picture (look for the little curve on the top of the facade).

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

At some point between 1948 and 1952, the second story and the 'appendage' on the west side of the building were removed.


1952 view of the building from Great Jones


Looking northwest from Great Jones and Main Sts., 1963.

The above picture is from an urban renewal appraisal, signaling its imminent demise. It was torn down in 1974, and this land became part of the Loop and, for about a decade, the main bus terminal downtown. This bus terminal is vacant as of 2009, and awaiting repurpose/demolition.

FIRE STATION #2

The original Fire Station #2 was constructed on the north side of West Main Street, across from the W. Duke & Sons cigarette factory between 1888 and 1893. The original building was a frame structure with a reservoir at the rear of the building. The building was located on Duke Co. land through a lease arrangement with the company, wherein the tobacco company built the structure. The Independent Hose Company #2, a group of volunteer firefighters who owned their own equipment (except for the hoses, which the city owned) manned the station.

When the volunteer company was disbanded, Captain Bradsher of the fire department formed Hose Company #2, outfitted with new city-owned equipment, except for two horses (Frank and Ben) 'transferred' from the African-American hook and ladder company to company #2.

By 1902, the frame building was considered outmoded, and a new structure was commissioned. It was built in 1902-3, opening on August 3 , 1903. It was designed by Charlotte architects Hook and Sawyer, who designed multiple early Durham structures. The station was the second brick fire station constructed, after the original fire station at N. Mangum and Holloway Sts.


Hook and Sawyer rendering of the fire station, 1902

The company posing in front of the building, 1910

(Courtesy Durham County Library)


Fire Station, ~1920s.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)


Fire Station #2 between the Cobb and O'Brien Warehouses, 1910s. This is one of the few pictures showing the Cobb warehouse prior to the addition of three upper floors to the building.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

This view from the 1930s show the fire station tucked between the two warehouses located on the north side of Main street.

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

Here it can be seen, obliquely, at ground level during shift change at Liggett and Myers.

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

And it was still standing post-1948, when the New Cigarette Factory was built (i.e. big blocky black-striped building).

(Courtesy Duke Archives)

Fire Station/Company 2 was relocated to a new station on Ninth Street in 1951, where it remains. The land, per the original lease agreement, reverted to the tobacco company.


Above, Fire Station #2 in 1951, as the company prepares to move to 9th St.
(Courtesy Barry Norman)


After the move to Ninth Street, 1951.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun)

The building was torn down sometime soon thereafter, and the site became an empty courtyard between Liggett Buildings.

Here is the site prior to West Village phase 2 renovations, 2006.


And after renovations, 2008


Looking northwest, 05.25.08

I can understand why Liggett would have removed the fire station to have better access between their warehouse buildings, but what a shame - I love the similarities and contrast between the mission style fire station and the industrial Italianate warehouses around it.

ED's VERY OWN ADDRESS

Endangered Durham has its very own address:

http://www.endangereddurham.org

Right now, this just forwards back to the blogspot address, but will make migration to a different host in the future an easier undertaking.

MAIN LIBRARY 3

Just a note that 16 residents of the Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood and I have a letter in today's Herald-Sun, opposing the proposed main library move. I don't know how many people in north-west-and-south Durham even know that there is a Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood, so it's really rewarding to see their voice represented in the H-S.

ADD'L QUICK NOTE - ALSTON AVE

Quick note: In today's Herald-Sun, there is an announcement of a public meeting next Thursday, November 2nd at the Hayti Heritage Center to discuss the plans for the slated widening of Alston Avenue between the Durham Freeway and Holloway Street from 2 lanes to 4 lanes. I think it's a bad idea to widen more roads in this neighborhood, particularly given DOT's track record on pedestrian infrastructure on their widened roads.

I apologize that I erroneously put the day as today initially; the H-S did not give a date, just a day, and I thought today was Thursday in my stupor this morning. The man at the Hayti Heritage Center looked at me like I was crazy. I hope no one else went over there.

(Note - I don't directly link the Herald-Sun's stories anymore, because they move them after a few days).

The meeting is NEXT THURSDAY, November 2nd from 4:30-7:00. Plans are also available for view at the main library, the COD transportation division at city hall, and at DOT.

You can also email:
Kimberly Hinton
khinton@dot.state.nc.us

to express your opinion.

CHOO-CHOO

The News and Observer reported Thursday on a Triangle-wide poll they commissioned to assess opinion on the pressing problems of the area (growth/development and traffic were the big shares) and what type of mass transit people thought was needed. People still favored rail in the transit question, strongest in Chapel Hill, then Raleigh, and then Durham.

Most of what can be said about commuter rail in the Triangle has been said, but I often feel that the fundamental point of the debate is persistently ignored, which is this:

The debate over rail has little to do with transportation, and everything to do with land use.

When Art Pope's people over at the John Locke Foundation, rail's most ardent opponents, kvetch about the capital and operational costs of rail, and the problems with the Triangle's ridership projections, they are mostly right. We don't have a good setup for successful rail in the Triangle right now.

The question revolves around future land use. Although the folks at TTA haven't always been explicit about it, the clear intent is to build high-density, mixed use development within 0.25 mile - 0.5 mile of the transit stops, with the expectation that these 'pearls on a necklace' will be the seeds for more compact development around the rail line.

The TTA "Station Area Guidelines" from 1997 clearly laid out design features of this development, including an emphasis on pedestrian accessibility.

Land Use Mix


Land Use Design

This is the best case for using the existing rail corridor; the corridor abuts some of the highest connectivity, pedestrian-accessible land in Durham-Cary-Raleigh. Much of our developed land cannot be efficiently served by public transit - low density, limited connectivity, pedestrian-averse development means that people have to drive to the bus. And people only drive to the bus if the cost of driving farther and/or parking are high and cost of riding the bus is low/free (i.e. UNC).

Much of the bait-and-switch discussion revolves around these buses. Buses are fine - I ride the TTA most days of the week. But buses here will always suffer from the same efficiency problems they do now if 1) The land uses/pedestrian networks they serve don't change and 2) They continue to operate on our regular winding-cow-path roads. Once you start changing those things, the price evens out. But some folks like to conflate regular buses (the kind we have right now) with Bus Rapid Transit (which needs a new infrastructure/context to function appropriately.)

Clearly, the folks at John Locke are fans of our current land use paradigm and think there should be no government intervention into land use and so, at best, do not see the purpose of such a development plan. Others (including me) think that greenfield land is a valuable resource that conveys public benefit outside of its development potential. If it is developed poorly (or excessively) there can be serious deleterious effects that are not limited to the person who develops that land. - i.e. there are public costs (externalities).

In a scenario where we conserve greenfields and opt for compact, sustainable, walkable development (preferably on vacant/underused land closer to downtown and by rehabbing vacant historic structures), the rail system becomes truly viable. I think this has been the tacit plan all along, but everyone's too afraid to use words like density, compact, smart growth, etc. So we avoid having the land use discussion that really needs to happen. We need to decide - what is our policy on land use? (Even if that policy is to not have a policy.) Do we continue as we have? Or do we make a plan?

BIRD'S EYE VIEW

I thought I would have some fun today with the 1891 Bird's Eye View of Durham map. I've marked several of the locations on this map that I've previously profiled, so one can see the spatial arrangement of these buildings.


So, what I've tried to do next is as follows: I took photos of the giant aerial photographs of Durham from 1959. I then spliced several of these photos together to make a larger aerial photo of downtown. I've imported this into Google Earth as an overlay. In this photo I've turned it and tilted it to make a pseudo-bird's eye view, and marked similar locations.



And finally, the same turn, tilt, and mark for ~2003.



The irony is the similarity between the 1891 view and the present day photo, particularly if you mentally delete all the parking garages. Like the 1891 map, there is a patchwork of buildings and vacant areas. The 1959 photo is far more densely developed. In the life cycle of a city, what happens next? What do we want it to look like in 2050?

313-315 E CHAPEL HILL ST.

At the northern terminus of Corcoran at East Chapel Hill Street, across CHS from the Washington Duke Motel, is the northeast corner of East Chapel Hill St. and Holland St., where we've moved from Mansard to Modern to Launch Vehicle.

The building at 313-315 East Chapel Hill Street was constructed around 1907 as the Corcoran Hotel, but did not survive for long due to stiff competition from the other downtown hotels. It became Mercy Hosptial, then the Durham Business School.




From the Washington Duke Hotel, looking northeast, likely mid-1920s.
(Courtesy Duke Archives, Wyatt Dixon Collection)


From the corner of Corcoran and East Chapel Hill St., looking northeast. Probably a little bit later than the above picture, but before 1934, when the Post Office was built.
(Courtesy Duke Archives, Wyatt Dixon Collection)

The entrance

(Courtesy Duke Archives, Wyatt Dixon Collection)

The business school appears to have closed by the 1930s. The "Tip-Top Tavern" was located on the first floor during this era.

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

As seen from the east, looking west from Rigsbee, mid-1930s.

(Courtesy University of North Carolina / North Carolina Collection)

In the 1938, the 313 half of the building was torn down and replaced with a art deco/moderne movie theater known as the Center Theatre, built by general contractor George W. Kane.


Looking east, Foster St. in the foreground. The Center Theater is under construction, and 315 E. Chapel Hill perists to its east.
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

Below, the completed Center Theater and 315 East Chapel Hill, 1940. This is the only picture I've seen with a complete Center Theater and an unmodified 315 East Chapel Hill.


(Courtesy Library of Congress)

Below, a closer picture of the Center from about 1948, going by the movie title.

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

In 1951, 315 East Chapel Hill St. was 'modernized' by removing the mansard roof, parging the exterior of the building, replacing the windows, and other changes that fundamentally changed the character of the building.



Above - being 'updated' for the demanding standards of the 1950s, 02.22.51
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)


Above, the Center Theater and 315 E. Chapel Hill from the Washington Duke Hotel, looking northeast, mid-1950s
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

Like most (all?) downtown movie theaters, the Center was segregated. Unlike the Carolina, which admitted African-Americans - but only through a side door to be able to sit in the balcony, separated from whites, I don't think the Center admitted African-Americans at all.

As a result, it was a focus of civil rights protests, like the one pictured below.



Looking east, 03.10.61
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)


Looking east, 03.10.61
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

By the mid-1960s, this incarnation of the Center Theater was reaching the end of its lifespan, short of 30 years old. I'm not sure if it ever de-segregated at this location.


(Courtesy The Herald Sun)

Above and below, the Center Theatre around 1965, again by the movie titles, looking northeast from Corcoran, near Chapel Hill St.


(Courtesy Durham County Library)

By 1966, the Center theater moved to Lakewood Shopping Center. The building was sold to the next-door neighbor, Home Savings and Loan, which demolished the theater.


Demolishing the theater, looking north, 01.09.67
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)


Demolishing the theater, looking south, 03.30.67
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)


Demolishing the theater, looking northeast, 03.30.67
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)


(Courtesy Durham County Library)

The building which replaced it, the Home Savings Bank, is what you get when you combine modernism with whimsical.


(Courtesy Durham County Library)


The Home Savings and Loan Building, 01.30.69
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

The same building today, now the Mutual Community Savings Bank


While I feel like I should dislike this building because of unclear openings for doors and windows, on most days I can't help but like it. Unlike a lot of stolid modernism, this just seems sort of irrepressibly geeky, in that Revenge of the Nerds/Napoleon Dynamite kind of way.

The building immediately to the east of the bank remains the original 315 East Chapel Hill St., albeit radically transformed. Visible around the window frames is brick, underneath the parged concrete exterior (on the sides.) Not much other clue to its origins, except for the general size and massing (minus the mansard roof.)

Looking northwest from East Chapel Hill St., 2007.

HUMAN SERVICES COMPLEX

Since we've hit the first Sears on W. Main St., and its modernist replacement, I'm going back to the second Sears to talk about its soon-to-come modernist replacement. I profiled the Sears building back in August when I examined the intersection of Dillard and Main.

It is currently the Durham County Health Department

(Looking south)

I've been trying to get my hands on the site plans for the new human services complex, set to replace this building, as well as it's parking, which is set to replace the 4-5 historic structures across Dillard Street. I've gotten the run-around on the site plan, which should be public. And I'm sure it is - just not publicly public.

The current building doesn't particularly move me in the way most pre-1950s buildings do, While I try to see if I'm falling into the trap of previous generations - advocating the demolition of things that have gone out of style, it's hard to find a lot of architecturally redeeming qualities about the Sears building.

I did find the rendering of the new human services complex on the architect's website, though. Unfortuately, I don't find a lot of architecturally redeeming qualities about it, either


(Freelon Architects)

I suppose it has a front entrance on Main St., but, despite scattering a bunch of distracting avatars around the picture, this building doesn't look very friendly. It looks like another piece of sculpturesque inhuman modernism - that says "I'm supposed to be impressive" a bit too loudly, and doesn't pull it off.

A few issues:

1) Isn't this a corner site? Why doesn't this building respect the corner? I don't have a site plan, so I don't know if they've set the building back on the site, which would be a mistake.
2) Is 1/2 the facade and all of the side wall basically blank? Message to the passerby - you are not welcome here.
3) This building borders a historic district - why (and this is problem with many renderings) doesn't this show the building in context - whether all of these jaunty angles and asymmetry function or don't function in the context of other buildings will have a lot to do with how bad or decent it looks.
4) The question I always ask myself about new architecture is - how will it look in 5-15 years? Once all gleam has worn off and the glass is scratched up? Will it age gracefully, or just be cheap and dingy looking? Many modernist structures, particularly the government ones, are not looking good. Turns out prefab concrete doesn't age well.
5) Is it really orange?

Unfortunately, the county has likely hired this firm to build a human services complex, not to build an anchor building to connect the HOPE VI and Golden Belt developments with the east side of downtown. I suspect that the county has a very narrow focus here, which, they might argue, doesn't include city-making. Perhaps they would argue that that is outside of their purvey, but the choices they make - to demolish an entire block of historic structures, to build a building like this, to, potentially, move the library, do not occur in a vacuum.

Since they've tossed the dowtown Master Plan out the window with their plans for three blocks of East Main - what is the county's new vision for the east side of town? Just "government services" that leave this a scary desolate place at night and on the weekends? Any chance that this side of town will still become a mixed-use, infilled area with retail uses along Main Street, as per the master plan?

I'm not at all against the Human Services Complex being built at this location. But I am against tunnel vision. This is a big project that will have a profound effect on the surrounding environment on the east side of downtown that they, and the city, should not ignore. Think big, and comprehensively.