As we wrap up an incredible year, I want to share a quick look at what your support has made possible and invite you to be part of what comes next.
Preservation Durham has grown in big ways this year. Expanding from one full-time staff member to a team of three has allowed us to take on more advocacy, more research, and more community partnerships than ever before. That growth is already visible in our work on the Home Security Life Building, the launch of our new “Preservation Priorities,” and the debut of our “Queer Durham” tour, created in response to cuts in federal funding for inclusive history.
You’ll see even more in the months ahead. Our partnership with Hayti Promise CDC continues to deepen as we help document the Fayetteville Street Corridor, and we’re gearing up for an exciting 2026 that includes the Hope Valley Centennial Home Tour in May and a special Harkrader Home Tour next fall celebrating Durham’s legacy of sustainable design.
All of this momentum is possible because of supporters like you. And right now, your contribution can go even further. Preservation Durham has received a challenge grant from the Covington Foundation, and we must raise $7,500 to unlock the full match. Renewing your membership or making an additional year-end gift will directly help us meet this goal and double your impact on our preservation and education work.
As the year comes to a close, I hope you’ll join us again. Your support helps ensure that Durham’s historic neighborhoods, cultural landscapes, and stories continue to be protected and celebrated.
Thank you for being part of this work, and warm wishes for the holiday season.
Historic Durham Athletic Park (DAP):
Julia Lasure, Preservation Durham's Membership and Programs Coordinator, and Bob Ashley, Advocacy Chair and Board Member, spoke up at the November 6th City Council Work Session in favor of the preservation option for the future of the Durham Athletic Park.
After some discussion and public comment, the city council directed city staff to move forward with further exploration of the first option, titled “Preservation & Restoration.”
We are excited that this direction was given because we did not support the dramatic changes illustrated in the second and third options. However, we still have questions and concerns about what will be preserved, how certain elements will be protected, how the history of the site will be adequately represented, and what changes will be needed to adapt the facility in any plans going forward. We are thrilled about opportunities to open the field to the public, make it more accessible for events, and ensure it is of the greatest use for the Durham community.
Photo by Sevy Keuber, 2011
While we are excited that preservation was identified as the preferred option, this process is not over, and we encourage more public comment and support of this direction as the city begins their next step of public engagement as they explore the future use of the site. Thank you to everyone who submitted comments in support of preserving the DAP!
If you want to watch our Executive Director’s overview of the site’s significance and evaluation of the three scenarios from the feasibility study, hop over to Instagram.
Home Security Life Insurance Building (505 W. Chapel Hill St):
Progress continues on advocating for the preservation and rehabilitation of the Home Security Life Building. Earlier this year, Preservation North Carolina (PNC), with support from Preservation Durham and NC Modernist, presented a Letter of Interest to negotiate a purchase agreement for the building. The proposal suggests subdividing the historic building from the larger four-acre site, allowing a smaller-scale redevelopment led by an experienced preservation developer. This approach aims to preserve the building while making the remainder of the parcel more attractive for future development, including potential affordable housing.
After months of careful planning and responding to city feedback, an updated proposal was submitted in October. The presentation originally scheduled for the November 20th City Council work session has been postponed to THURSDAY
December 4th, and Preservation Durham will be there to represent the community’s interest in preserving this important landmark in partnership with Preservation North Carolina.
Preservation Durham 2025 Award Winners:
- Robyn Wiegman for the Preservation of her Craftsman-Bungalow Home at 117 W. Seeman Street
- The Junior League of Durham and Orange Counties and the Hill Trust for their renovation of the Hill House
- Andre’ Vann, local public historian whose work has supported many preservation and education efforts, including the preservation of the James E. Shepard House
- Philip Hansell for the restoration of Little Five Points
- The St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation for 50 years of great work in preserving the Hayti Heritage Center and using it as a vital local culture center
- Tre and Khya Tapp, owners of the Chicken Hut, for their dedication to preserving their family’s legacy by going through the local landmark nomination process
- Central Park School for Children Foundation for the preservation and reuse of the North Durham Graded School
- DTW Architects and Planners LLC for over 40 years of amazing preservation work in Durham
- The Museum of Durham History and Friends of Geer Exhibit: Unearthing Stories from Geer Cemetery, which demonstrates the importance of archaeology, preservation, and education in the protection in one of the oldest Black cemeteries in Durham
- John Schelp for Postcards from Durham
Preservation Durham Awards were awarded to those who have engaged in remarkable acts of preservation and public history across Durham County. The awards recognize those who have taken significant care in preserving Durham’s built environment and those who have creatively and innovatively engaged with, transformed, and disseminated Durham’s rich history. The awards seek to broaden our preservation community by celebrating what preservation looks like across Durham County.
It has been a delight to talk with each award winner and learn more about their dedication to historic preservation and education in the Durham area. Many thanks to Ben Oliver of Storyboard Media, who edited each video displayed during the program. We are delighted to highlight the amazing work our award winners have done and continue to do with a glimpse through these videos.
A HUGE thank you to Preservation Durham’s 2025 Sustaining Sponsors!
If you’re interested in joining our community of sponsors and supporting Preservation Durham’s work and programs in 2026, including receiving benefits at the annual home tour featuring Hope Valley’s Centennial May 16-17, reach out to Julianne Patterson or click here to learn more.
Sponsorship Levels:
Presenting Partner: $7,500
Preservation Champion: $5,000
Preservation Partner: $2,500
George Watts Hill Circle: $1,000
Preservation Advocate: $750
Preservation Friend: $500
Advertisement options in Home Tour program booklet
Learn more about Brodie Duke, son of Washington Duke, and a tobacco industry entrepreneur. This book not only gives insight into the life of Brodie Duke, but also the rise of the city of Durham in conjunction with the rise of local tobacco manufacturing.
Brodie Duke was a man whose legacy was often overshadowed by the remarkable success of his younger brothers. Though remembered by some for his reputation as a womanizer, gambler, and alcoholic, his contributions to the growth and identity of Durham were both significant and lasting. As scandalous as aspects of his personal life may have been, the impact he had on the city should never be dismissed.
In her work, Brodie Duke: The Man, The Myth, The Truth, author Cora Darrah captures the essence of Brodie Duke—a complex, influential figure who deserves to have his story heard. Her presentation not only brings his life into sharper focus but also invites all who cherish Durham’s history to step back in time and experience the city in its earliest days.
We are so grateful for the amazing turnout for our inaugural Queer History of Durham tour! The tour was sold out, and we had a great time learning more about the Queer History of Durham, enjoying the incredible zine created by Kelsey Graywill and Meg Lentz, and a social hour at the Pauli Murray Center.
If you missed out on the event, no worries. We hope to host this tour again in the future, and if you’re an organization interested in hosting it, reach out to jlasure@preservationdurham.org. In the meantime, you can do the tour yourself on Open Durham, or book a private tour with us to host an adapted walking tour version. You can also enjoy the zine we commissioned in collaboration with the Duke Human Rights Center on the Open Durham website. Kelsey Graywill of Hyperlocal Durham turned the zine into an interactive game.
Friends of Geer Cemetery, a grassroots organization of volunteers, uses grave markers to identify grave sites at Geer Cemetery, a historically African American cemetery in Durham, North Carolina. Since its inception in 2003, the organization has led cleanup efforts to maintain the once-neglected cemetery and has been working with firms to perform archaeological services, such as identifying and resetting headstones. And despite there being no surviving records from the cemetery itself, volunteers have researched the genealogy and history of those buried, reconstructing stories of their lives. - Full story by Mary Mungai in Indy Week & Media Hub.
Photos courtesy of
Friends of Geer Cemetery
The City of Durham’s Planning & Development Department created the Heritage Communities program to honor and celebrate historical communities in Durham that have never been formally recognized by the City or County. The inaugural Durham Heritage Community is Merrick-Moore, a community built by family and friends, and centered around a historic church and a celebrated high school. We invite you to take a spatial journey through the history of this vibrant community located along Cheek Road, formerly Fish Dam Road.
A huge part of the Fayetteville Street Corridor Project that Preservation Durham is a part of is researching numerous properties in the historic district. One of the most recent properties we completed researching is 1111 Fayetteville. Built in the late 1940s, 1111 Fayetteville was the office and residence of Dr. Leroy Russell Swift. Dr. Swift was a gynecologist and obstetrician, and was the first African American to be certified by the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Southeast. Dr. Swift was also the head of the public health program at North Carolina Central University and was the director of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Lincoln Hospital for nearly twenty years.
1111 Fayetteville was built with the first floor dedicated to doctors' offices and the second floor as the residence for Dr. Swift and his family. Dr. Swift and Dr. Robert P. Randolph are listed in the city directories as the first two physicians to use the offices.
In 1993, Dr. Edward J. Clemmons bought the property for his dental practice. During this time, Dr. Clemmons renovated the property, winning a Preservation Durham award in 1997. The building was also used as the headquarters for Project RAPP (Researching Adolescents, Parents, and Peers), conducted by numerous local entities, including Duke and North Carolina Central universities, the University of Chapel Hill’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, and a Durham Interagency Council.
Believed to be one of the earliest Spanish Eclectic style homes in Durham, the Walter and Theo Whitted House is named after the first owners, both Durham natives. Shown above in 1966 and 2011, the home is a beloved architectural marvel in Durham and is included in Virginia and Lee McAlester’s A Field Guide to American Houses.
Walter Whitted co-owned a shop with his brothers called Whitted’s Sport Shop. Walter eventually worked at the business office in Duke University. His wife, Theo Whitted, attended numerous schools throughout her life, including Durham’s Southern Conservatory of Music, Duke University, Michigan University, and the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Walter Whitted died suddenly at age 49, and Theo also passed away unexpectedly at the home.
The home was eventually divided up into apartments, in which most of the tenants were Duke students. In 1969, the night before a group of African-American Duke students took over the Allen Building to demand fairer treatment of Black students, around 25 of these students met at 1204 W. Markham to prepare. To learn more about this home, check out the full plaque application on Open Durham.
As part of the programming for the Queer History of Durham tour, which we hosted on November 8th, we updated all of the tour information on Open Durham. The tour started out as a project in Dr. Megan Cherry’s Queer Public History class at NC State University. Curated by Julia Lasure and Karina Burbank, we had the immense pleasure of researching over 20 sites. Some of the sites include The Clown’s Inn, the Former Travis Place Warehouse, the Washington Duke Hotel, and the meeting place of the Cedar Chest organization. Check out the tour listing to learn more about these sites and many more, as well as access the free zine and minigame made specifically for this program!
A critical part of the research process was talking to Queer Durhamites who had an incredible influence over many of the events discussed in the tour. Another crucial research tool for this tour was old Open Durham comments, particularly on the Blueberry Hill page highlighted in last month’s Open Durham highlight. We want to encourage the conversation to continue on the sites included on the tour as well, so if you have any memories, facts, or tidbits you want to add, we highly encourage you to do so!
Local events and news from us and our partners in preservation you may be interested in.
- Christmas by Candlelight at Duke Homestead Friday, December 5th from 5:30pm-9pm. Come enjoy live Christmas music, dancing, singing, holiday cookies, and a whole lot of history as you follow a candlelit tour through our historic area. Costumed interpreters will bring the Duke family home to life as it might have been for Christmas in 1870 when the Dukes lived here.
- Roots of Freedom: Geer Cemetery Celebration of Ratification and Preservation. The Friends of Geer Cemetery is hosting a community event on December 6th in celebration of: NC Ratification of 13th Amendment, the preservation of cemetery grounds and headstones completed in 2025, and the unveiling of the National Historic Landmark plaque. The event will be held Saturday 12/6/25 starting at 10:30am at Geer Cemetery at 800 Colonial Street. It is free and open to the public.
- Jonkonnu at Stagville Saturday, December 6th at 4:30pm. Celebrate an African diaspora holiday tradition with St Sya Academy and Historic Stagville! Durham youth, dancers, and musicians will perform on December 6th to honor Jonkonnu, an African diaspora masquerade with cultural connections to West Africa and the Caribbean. Then join the lead artists around a bonfire for more music, dance, and stories about Jonkonnu traditions in Africa and the Americas.
- Brodie Duke: The Man, The Myth, The Truth Book Talk with Cora Darrah. Tuesday, December 9th, 6-7pm, The Chesterfield 701 W. Main Street. Join us as local historian and author, Cora Darrah, discusses her new book Brodie Duke: The Man, The Myth, The Truth. Learn more about Brodie Duke, the son of the American Tobacco Company, and a tobacco entrepreneur. This book gives insight into the life of Brodie Duke, and the rise of the city of Durham in conjunction with the rise of local tobacco manufacturing. Register here.
- Historic Durham Athletic Park’s (DAP) preservation and restoration were discussed at the November 6th City Council Work Session. Read more from WRAL News and the Herald Sun
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