CRANFORD-WANNAMAKER HOUSE
Cranford-Wannamaker house from Faculty Row, 1890s
(Courtesy Duke Archives.
Another of the four remaining of the five original five Faculty Row houses on the campus of Trinity College now sits at 1019 West Trinity Avenue. Built contemporaneously with the original college in 1891, the house was built according to plans of an unknown New York architect, and was perhaps the most elaborate of the five. The present crenelated tower originally supported an onion-shaped dome at its peak, which was removed around 1900.
1902 Map of Trinity College.
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection. Scanned by Digital Durham)
1913 Sanborn overlay on present-day satellite imagery.
As with all of the Faculty Row houses, this one provided housing for several professors during its tenure on the college campus. The first was William Cranford, a professor of Greek and later a Dean of the College. The most renowned occupant was William H. Wannamaker, who held multiple administrative posts at the college, helped build the athletics program at the college, and became editor of the South Atlantic Quarterly
The house was moved to 1019 West Trinity Avenue in 1916 when Guess Road (Buchanan Blvd.) was widened and the stone wall was built around the Trinity College campus. It still stands at this location.
1019 W. Trinity, 02.21.10
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3 comments:
Great work Gary. How did you know about the dome? The picture of the existing house is wonderful but you can see the decapitation of the dome easily now that you have identified it.
Thanks for all you do!
A Russian-inspired house? I would never have guessed.
But even if I did not know, I think it looks really weird without the dome. Something about the curved slope of the shingles requires something suitably curvy on top of the tower.
Very interesting, Gary!
Growing up, I remember this house as one of the excentric oddities expected in its neighborhood. I thought something was missing and it just didn't look complete. I never considered an onion dome. I think when I read "crenellated tower" in its description about 25 years ago, I quit wondering and chalked it up to personal preference.
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