Thursday, July 24, 2008

BOONE HOUSE


Boone House, late 1970s

Demetrius Boone moved to the southwest corner of N. Mangum St. and West Geer St. around 1910 - the Historic Inventory opines that the original structure was remodeled by Boone around 1913 to its present form - with the unusual feature of a gambrel front gable projecting from a hipped roof.

Boone entered the drugstore business with Claude Haywood, forming the Haywood-Boone Drugstore at North Mangum and West Main St., and later Boone's Drugstore at West Parrish, Orange, and N. Mangum Sts.

The house has been owned for some time by Floyd McKissick, Jr., who let the house deteriorate quite a bit while he tried to sell the house for several years - first through Preservation Durham, and then via a large sign on the property. The house has since been renovated, and is the home of record for McKissick's representation of Durham in the NC State Legislature. As others have noted, the exterior of the house remains immaculately undisturbed - seemingly unsullied by the trespass of human traffic.


Boone House, 06.23.08


36.003648,-78.894922

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Living in OND, I cant tell you how relieved I was when renovations actually commenced on this house, the massive porch over the entrance to the home appeared frigtenengly fragile and looked like a disaster waiting to happen. but they did come in and reinforce that thing, but good, I got to watch it every morning driving by.

TSQ75

Anonymous said...

Terrific renovation and restoration. Looks like it was falling down 30 years so all the more impressive!

Seoul Sittee said...

Driving by every day for the last nine years or so I recall it being a daycare for a bit.

It did seem to be falling apart, then someone hoisted a too tall joist (okay, maybe not exactly like that, but I felt like a rhyme) in the column so that the right of the portico (or whatever it's called) poked up--a bad fix for sure.

The current reno, from street view anyway, seems much improved. Speaking of, Google Street View shows it in mid-reno.

http://snipurl.com/34y1c [maps_google_com]

Monkey Boy said...

My wife and I looked at the house when it was announced on the Durham Preservation Society website. Inside it had looked like it had been divided into several apartments and the fireplaces either bricked up or pilastered over (false wall).

We declined to purchase it because of the steady flow of traffic on Mangum and the amount we estimated for bringing it back to a single family dwelling.

By the way do you have more maps of Durham, especially Glendale?

EdRock said...

I just stumbled across this site. As a Durham native, born in the early 60's, I'm finding some of the pictures and information fascinating. In fact, I seem to remember this house, in its darkest days, being a massage parlor for a little while.