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For more information about Preservation Durham
please contact our office at (919)-682-3036 or
by email
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2001 - Living It Up Downtown
Tour graphics by Claudia Fulshaw
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Nearly 1000 people joined Preservation Durham on Saturday, May 5, Living It Up Downtown on the 5th annual Old Durham Tour. Eclectic residences created in buildings that were once department stores, offices, and warehouses demonstrated how a good building can be useful even after it has outlived its original purpose. Nearly a dozen exciting and innovative adaptive reuses of historic Durham buildings demonstrated new ways to Live It Up Downtown!
Tour sites included West Village, apartments in former tobacco warehouses at the corner of Duke and Main Streets; a residence in the Clements Building, once a cornerstone of the Black Wall Street on Parrish Street; and a residence at 329 W. Main Street which won Preservation Durham's George and Mary Pyne Preservation Award in 2000.
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Kimberly Isley and Stewart Aycock were the chairmen of the tour committee. Honorary co-chairs of the tour were Jazz Singer and Durham native Nnenna Freelon and Durham Mayor Nick Tennyson. Dr. Ben Speller is President of Preservation Durham. John Compton is the Executive Director.
Living it up Downtown was presented by Blue Devil Ventures and The Liggett Group. |
| Tour's Eve Celebration |
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Nearly 250 Preservation Durham members and friends partied at the Tour's Eve Celebration Friday night, May 4th at the Powerhouse at West Village! The annual Celebration is one of the most popular events in Durham, and this year's party did not disappoint, providing an exciting night of festivity, food, and fun in a brand new venue! The party was on the third floor of the Powerhouse, being developed by
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Blue Devil Ventures as a retail, office, and restaurant complex. Located at the corner of Fuller and Fernway Streets, the Powerhouse is next to the complex of West Village apartments that now occupy former tobacco warehouses.
Party decorations were provided by Morgan Imports. Music for guests' listening and dancing pleasure was provided by violinist James Dargen and DJ Dail Holderness. Dance instructor Misty Tripoli taught the merengue and other Latin steps to enthusiastic students. The $50 Celebration tickets included admission to the tour on Saturday.
Thanks to the many Durham restaurants who provided delicious and decadent delicacies for the Tour's Eve Celebration!
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| Lecture Featured Three Views of Downtown |
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In conjunction with Living It Up Downtown, Preservation Durham presented a free slide-illustrated lecture Wednesday, May 2nd at 7 pm in the Adaron Room at the Durham Arts Council. "Waking Up Durham: Old Buildings, New Homes" included three presentations. Featured speakers were downtown visionary Andy Widmark, developer of the Teer-Mark building and the residential lofts on |
| West Main Street; Steve Gaddis, the architect for the renovation of the Baldwin Building; and architect Ellen Cassilly, whose downtown projects include the renovation of the old Coman's Lumber building and currently the rehab of a Parrish Street site to include residential units. Cassilly and Gaddis are both active members of Durham Area Designers, a non-profit dedicated to improving the design of the urban fabric.
This program was made possible in part by a Durham Arts Council Facility Grant.
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| Living it up Downtown Pictures |
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Beautiful weather encouraged nearly 1,000 people to come downtown for the tour on May 5, 2001. All the tour sites were within walking distance of each other, and Main Street was alive with strolling tour goers all day. Sidewalk cafes offered lunch and snacks.
West Village (right) had four apartments on the tour, created within former tobacco warehouses and shop buildings. Loading docks have been turned into pleasant, grassy courtyards. Tour goers enjoyed the unique view of downtown from apartments in The Bridge over Morgan Street (above right). |
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Renovation of the Baldwin Building (above) is just beginning. Tour-goers referred to architect's drawings to visualize how the ten planned apartments in this former department store will look. The floor to ceiling windows overlook Main Street. |
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Preservation Durham members and friends followed the tour to unexpected corners of downtown, including a colorful outside staircase that leads to a residence in the space over a Main Street storefront (left). An apartment inside the 1957 Coman Building (above) was a delightful surprise. The only residence in the International Style building on Foster Street is surrounded by thriving businesses that fill the rest of the former bank and lumber company. |
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Each of the buildings downtown, whether simple two story storefronts or towering skyscrapers, adds its own character to Durham's unique downtown, where the architecture is testimony of our rich heritage of tobacco, textiles, financial services, and trade.
Tour photos by Jan Hessling.
For more information about sites on the tour, see the Tour Booklet, available from Preservation Durham. |
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| Archives and Tour Pictures |
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© Preservation Durham - P.O. Box 25411, Durham, NC 27702-5411 |
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