WEST DURHAM MILL VILLAGE (EAST) / SOUTHERN FIRE INSURANCE CO.

Aerial showing the mill village houses north of Perry St., between Broad and 8th (Iredell), 1940s.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Mill houses associated with the Erwin Cotton Mills were constructed in a centrifugal pattern around the mill from the 1890s-1910s. I've profiled those extending west from the mill on 13th, 14th, and 15th streets here. Several rows of houses extended east from the mill as well; as the commercial district developed along 9th and Perry Streets, a section of these houses was separated from the mill by the business district. These extended from 8th St. (Iredell) to Broad St. at the Trinity College campus.

As Erwin Mills began to divest themselves of houses in the 1940s, these likely presented a greater value to the private market, due to their location near Broad and Main, than many of the other mill houses. It appears that the Southern Fire Insurance Company thought so, at least, as they purchased 5 or more of these houses by 1951 to construct their new office building. They had previously been located in the Geer Building downtown.


Rendering of the new office building as seen from Broad and Perry, ~1950.


Looking southwest from Broad St. at the building under construction, 02.22.51
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Completed office building, looking west-northwest from Broad St., 1951.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Completed office building, looking northwest from Broad and Perry Sts., 1951.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

I'm not sure when the Southern Fire Insurance Co. went out of business here. By the early 1990s, the building belonged to Duke, and housed their human resources, which it still houses today.


Looking northwest from Broad and Perry, 4.12.09

This building and those to the north are the subject of the longstanding rumor/plan that Whole Foods will demolish the lot of them and build a new SuperSustainableWholeFoods on the site. We'll see - I don't know if the macroeconomic climate has made Ye Olde A&P seem any more appropriately sized.

Find this spot on a Google Map.


36.007865,-78.920291