Mystery Photo - 03.04.10

(Courtesy UNC, Billy Barnes Collection)

The question is, can you tell where the photo is taken from? In the background, left to right:
NC Mutual Bldg
American Tobacco
Austin-Heaton Flour Mill

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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36.005347,-78.909954

CROWELL HOUSE

Faculty Row houses, 1902 - the house is labelled as the "Mims" house
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection. Scanned by Digital Durham)

Another of the 'Faculty Row' houses built by Trinity College in 1891 during the original Durham campus construction is known as the Crowell House, for its first occupant, John Franklin Crowell. All five Faculty Row houses were built from plans ordered from a New York architect. FPer the historic inventory:

"Crowell was President of Trinity College from 1887 to 1895 and the director of the move of the college from Randolph County to Durham in 1892. He was a strong believer in the academic advantages provided by an urban environment; beyond promoting the move to Durham, Crowell worked very hard to improve the educational facilities of the college and to upgrade its faculty. In addition to teaching, administering the college, and cataloging the combined book collections of the Literary Society, Crowell introduced intercollegiate football to Trinity College. In the early years of the 20th century, he pursued a second distinguished career as an economist and statistician in New York."


1913 Sanborn map overlay showing the location of the Crowell House.

Four of the Faculty Row houses were moved intact from the campus in 1916, and the fifth was dismantled. The widening of Guess Road and the construction of the stone wall around the campus prompted the college to insist upon the removal of the houses. They gave them to the professors living in the houses at the time, although it seems that it was up to the professors to move them.

The Crowell House was moved to 504 Watts St., where it remains, intact.


Crowell House, 02.21.10

Find this spot on a Google Map.


36.00589,-78.910926