NORTH CAROLINA STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICE
Office of Archives and History
Department of Cultural Resources
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
Forest Hills Historic District, Additional Documentation
Durham, Durham County, DH0830ad, Approved 10/8/2014
Nomination by Jennifer Martin and Cynthia de Miranda
Photographs by Jennifer Martin, June 2014
46 Beverly Drive
1025 Sycamore Street
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 1, 3, 4, 5 Page 1 Durham County, NC
[Note: Only amended items and the required NPS certification are included below.]
Section 1: Name of Property: Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section 3: State/Federal Agency Certification
As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I hereby certify that this nomination
request for determination of eligibility meets the documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of
Historic Places and meets the procedural and professional requirements set for in 36 CFR Part 60. In my opinion, the property
meets does not meet the National Register criteria. I recommend that this property be considered significant
nationally statewide locally. (See continuation sheet for additional comments.)
Signature of certifying official/Title Date
North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
State or Federal agency and bureau
In my opinion, the property meets does not meet the National Register criteria. ( See Continuation sheet for
additional comments.)
Signature of certifying official/Title Date
State or Federal agency and bureau
Section 4: National Park Service Certification
I, hereby certify that this property is: Signature of the Keeper Date of action
___ entered in the National Register ______________________________________
___ See continuation sheet.
____ determined eligible for the National Register ______________________________________
___ See continuation sheet.
____ determined not eligible for the National Register ______________________________________
____ removed from the National Register ______________________________________
____ other (explain): _________________ ______________________________________
Section 5: Classification
Number of Resources within Property (do not include previously listed resources in the count)
Contributing Noncontributing
__45__ __3__ buildings
___0__ __0__ sites
___0__ __0__ structures
___0__ __0__ objects
__45__ __3__ Total
Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register
______319______
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 2 Durham County, NC
Revised Inventory List Entries
This additional documentation nomination extends the period of significance of the Forest Hills
Historic District to include the period 1956 through 1965. This Section 7 provides revised
inventory entries for buildings erected during the expanded period of significance and updates
their status as contributing properties in the district. Included also are nine dwellings originally
listed as noncontributing due to inaccurate or incomplete dating. The incorrect construction dates
resulted from the limits of available research sources when the original nomination was prepared.
County tax records, now available online, list original construction dates and are the source of
the construction date for each property unless otherwise noted. Some current property owners in
Forest Hills identified properties originally listed with inaccurate dates to the preparers of this
form.
Please note that the website www.trianglemodernisthouses.com used as a source in the original
nomination has been renamed www.ncmodernist.org. All references to it here use the new name.
Arnette Avenue
Ralph M. Tucker House
1407 Arnette Ave.
1955
Contributing Building
Hipped-roof brick Ranch with center chimney, a recessed door, a stoop with a metal railing, a
front picture window, metal jalousie windows, and some metal sash windows. At left is original
attached garage. Ralph M. Tucker was owner-occupant in 1960. [tax records, 1960 CD]
Beverly Drive
Laura P. and Alexander Hawkins Graham Jr. House
1 Beverly Drive
1965
Contributing Building
One-story, side-gabled, brick Ranch house stands on a raised basement on its south end and is
composed of a three-bay center block that projects forward and slightly above one-bay brick
wings. Eight-over-twelve, double-hung windows pierce the exterior and a large brick chimney
rises from the interior of the center block. The entrance, composed of a single-leaf wooden door
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 3 Durham County, NC
flanked by half-glazed, divided-light sidelights, is recessed in the north end of the center block.
[information from owner].
James E. Davis House
7 Beverly Drive
1959
Contributing Building
Two-story, side-gabled, brick Colonial Revival-style house with exterior end chimneys, six-over-
six sash windows, and a two-story side wing at the left. A one-story garage is attached to the
wing. Academic details include a modillion cornice, a door with sidelights, and a one-bay
entrance porch with columns and a parapet roof. Robert W. Carr designed the house in 1959.
James E. Davis was owner-occupant in 1960. Davis served as chairman of the department of
surgery at Watts Hospital from 1954 until 1979. He was a president of the American Medical
Association from 1987 to 1988. [tax records, Carr interview, 1960 CD, biographical information
from the New York Times, November 11, 1997]
Ralph G. Fleming House
23 Beverly Drive
1955
Contributing Building
Two-story, side-gabled, brick Colonial Revival-style house with sash windows with aprons on
the first story and a full-width balcony with boxed posts. The upper story of the balcony
currently lacks a railing. French doors open onto the balcony. At left is a one-and-a-half story
wing with a dormer; at right is a one story wing with an exterior end chimney. The brick has
been painted. Dr. Ralph G. Fleming was the occupant in 1960. [tax records, 1960 CD]
Claude Biddle House
27 Beverly Drive
1958
Contributing Building
Two-story, side-gable Colonial Revival-style house with brick on the first floor, an overhanging
upper story with weatherboard siding and six-over-six sash windows. The door has sidelights and
a one-bay gabled porch with fluted posts. A large fixed multi-pane replacement window is beside
the door. The multi-plane roof features a front shed section and a lower rear shed section. At left
is a one-story wing. Claude Biddle lived here in 1960. [tax records, 1960 CD]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 4 Durham County, NC
Dr. William V. Singletary House
32 Beverly Drive
1957
Contributing Building
One and two-story, side-gabled, brick Modernist house with asbestos siding on the overhanging
upper story, a recessed door, an exterior end chimney, and metal casement windows. Across the
façade are three metal picture windows with flanking casements. Birmingham construction built
the house for Dr. Singletary in 1957. [information from owner; 1958 CD]
Carport
Ca. 2000
Noncontributing Structure
Detached side-gabled carport with brick posts.
Stewart P. Alexander Jr. House
40 Beverly Drive
1958
Contributing Building
One-story, brick Modernist house with a two-story center block, a flat roof, a recessed entrance,
and a one-story left side wing. Alterations include replacement casement windows and a
latticework brick wall that screens the original carport at the left side. The house was built for
Stewart P. Alexander Jr., son of the founder of Alexander Ford Company. [tax records,
information from owner, 1960 CD]
Charlie Pete House
42 Beverly Drive
1962
Contributing Building
Two-story, side-gabled Colonial Revival-style house with a brick first story, an upper story
covered with vinyl siding, a door with sidelights and a shed porch with boxed posts. Other
features are eight-over-twelve and eight-over-eight sash windows and a one-story garage with
cupola at the left. Charlie Pete, an obstetrician at Duke Hospital, was the original owner.
[neighbor interview, tax records]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 5 Durham County, NC
Lois and George R. Herbert Jr. House
46 Beverly Drive
1961
Contributing Building
Modernist split-level house with two-level diagonal main block at the right and a one-story wing
at the left. The recessed entrance’s double door has been replaced with a single door with
sidelights. Features include vertical wood sheathing, wide eaves, and interior white brick
chimney, and casement windows. The original owner was George R. Herbert Jr., who became
the first president of the Research Triangle Institute in 1959. The Archie Royal Davis
architectural firm designed the house. [information from owner]
Archie Royal Davis House
52 Beverly Drive
1962
Contributing Building
Modernist brick split-level house with wood shakes on the gable ends, an interior chimney, a
recessed double door with narrow sidelights, and a front deck. The windows include casements
in tall vertical units and fixed glazed panels in the gable end. Architect Davis adapted a plan
purchased from Sunset Magazine, according to Davis’s godson Casey Herbert, who grew up at
46 Beverly Drive in a Davis-designed house. T. W. Wilkerson was the builder. [Carr interview,
www.ncmodernist.org]
Charles Roach House
55 Beverly Drive
1957
Contributing Building
Wide, side-gabled, brick Ranch house with a shallow gabled front wing with a large fixed multi-
pane window, a corner recessed porch with paired boxed posts, and six-over-six sash windows.
At right is a garage wing. Robert W. Carr designed the house for Roach. [tax records, Carr
interview; 1960 CD]
Dot and Hubert Lewis House
63 Beverly Drive
1958
Contributing Building
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 6 Durham County, NC
Large, one-and-a-half-story brick Colonial Revival-style house with a side-gabled slate roof with
three gabled dormers and flanking one-story wings. Other features are a recessed double door
with a transom and fluted pilasters, a dentil cornice, eight-over-twelve sash windows with aprons
and an exterior and an interior chimney. The house was built for the Lewises. [tax records]
Ann and L. Bryan Clemmons Jr. House
68 Beverly Drive
1958
Contributing Building
Side-gabled, split-level house with asbestos siding, a gabled wing projecting from the right
façade, a carport at the left, and a shallow side porch across the façade. The sash windows are
replacements. Ann and L. Bryan Clemmons Jr. are the earliest known owners and appear at this
address in the 1961 city directory. He was the manager for Caterers, Inc. [information from
owner, 1961 CD]
House
72 Beverly Drive
1963
Contributing Building
Side-gable brick Ranch house with Colonial Revival-style sash windows with aprons, a door
with sidelights, and a small pedimented entrance porch with boxed posts and a metal railing. [tax
records]
Kearns House
75 Beverly Drive
1961
Contributing Building
Two-story, side-gabled, brick Colonial Revival-style house with exterior end chimneys, a door
with a transom, a brick stoop and metal railing, and large fixed multi-pane windows flanking the
door. Other features are six-over-six sash windows, vinyl siding on the upper level of the main
block, and flanking one-story wings. A pent roof shelters the lower main block. The brick has
been painted. The house was built for the Kearns. [Carr interview]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 7 Durham County, NC
Kathleen and Oral G. Allen House
77 Beverly Drive
1950
Contributing Building
Wide, hip-roofed, brick Ranch house with Roman brick walls, wide eaves, a door with sidelights,
a hipped entrance porch with boxed posts, and an interior chimney. Windows include both sash
and sliders or casements. Oral G. Allen was the occupant in 1958. In 1960, Mr. Allen was
assistant manager of the Belk-Leggett store. [tax records, 1958 CD, 1960 CD]
E. K. Powe Jr. House
81 Beverly Drive
1960
Contributing Building
Striking contemporary-style house on a large wooded property. The house has a front-gabled
main block with walls glazed up to the roofline and a large interior brick chimney that is exposed
on the interior. At the left front is a lower flat-roof wing with no windows; at right another lower
wing. The entry into the main block has glazed walls. Other features are vertical wood sheathing,
exposed ceiling joists, and wide eaves. Chapel Hill architect James Webb designed the house for
Edward Knox Powe Jr., who was an attorney. [Carr interview; www.ncmodernist.org]
Bivins Street
Hazeline and Wallace S. Pickard House
1210 Bivins Street
1954
Contributing Building
Small, side-gabled brick Ranch house with interior chimney, three-part, front picture window
with replacement flanking windows, and brick stoop with decorative metal posts and aluminum
awning. The sliding windows are replacements. Wallace Pickard, a tobacconist, was the
occupant in 1957. [tax records, 1957 CD]
Shed
1954
Contributing Building
Shed-roofed shed with German siding.
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 8 Durham County, NC
House
1211 Bivins Street
2014
Noncontributing Building
One-story Modernist house built into a hillside. Exterior is vertical metal standing seam siding
and copper-colored fish scale flat metal panels sheathe the exterior wall around the main
entrance and basement entrance. Oldcastle custom concrete block sheathes the basement level to
the west. Shed roofs crown the house, including the two-car garage at the east end. Designed by
local architect Ellen Cassilly Inc. with Keith Barnhouse as project manager.
Harry Penn House
1214 Bivins Street
1958
Contributing Building
Side-gabled brick Ranch house with modernist features such as an entrance porch with a vertical
wood screen, vertical siding on the left bays, and Roman brick veneer on the right. The recessed
carport has square decorative openings in the brick. Interior chimney and sliding metal windows.
Harry Penn was the occupant in 1960. [tax records, 1960 CD]
House
1227 Bivins Street
1956
Contributing Building
Brick Ranch house on a sloping lot, with a recessed door with sidelights, an interior end
chimney, metal casement windows, and board-and-batten siding on the upper walls of the
entrance wing. The lower level includes a garage. W. H. McCarthy was the occupant in 1960.
[tax records, 1960 CD]
Playhouse
Ca. 1990
Noncontributing Building
Front-gabled, weatherboard playhouse.
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 9 Durham County, NC
Lottie and J. Ben Barnes House
115 Briar Cliff Road
1958
Contributing Building
Hip-roof brick Ranch house on a raised basement with a brick stoop with metal railing, 6-over-9
sash windows, an interior chimney, and a carport that has been screened in at left with pipe
supports. The brick has been painted. Lottie and J. Ben Barnes were the occupants in 1960. He
owned the J. Ben Barnes Sign Shop. [1960 CD]
Carolina Circle
Mary and Robert Westbrook House
417 Carolina Circle
1962
Contributing Building
Ranch house, set on a slope with a basement, side-gable roof, interior chimney, eight-over-
twelve and six-over-six sash windows, a garage in the basement, and artificial siding. Mr.
Westbrook was an engineer for George W. Kane Company. Listed as “under construction” in the
1961 city directory. The Westbrooks appear at this address in the 1962 city directory. [1962 CD]
House
419 Carolina Circle
ca. 1960
Contributing Building
One-story Ranch house, set on a slope with a basement, side-gable roof, brick walls, interior
chimney, a recessed door, eight-over-eight sash windows, and a garage in the basement. [tax
records]
House
429 Carolina Circle
2010
Noncontributing Building
Large, two-story, neo-Tudor-influenced brick and stone-veneered house with a high-hipped roof
and two front-facing gables. A one-story, hip-roofed garage with a front-gabled dormer is
attached to the north elevation.
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 10 Durham County, NC
Cedar Street
Alicelee and William L. Perry House
1804 Cedar Street
1961
Contributing Building
Large, one-and-a-half-story brick side-gable Colonial Revival-style house with eight-over-twelve
sash windows, a gabled front wing, a door beneath a corner entrance porch with copper hood, a
large bay window, an interior chimney, and a one-story left side wing. The house first appears in
the 1963 city directory with the Perry family as owner-occupants. [tax records, 1963 CD]
West Forest Hills Boulevard
House
1060 West Forest Hills Boulevard
1947
Contributing Building
Two-story side-gabled Colonial Revival-style house with weatherboard siding, end chimneys, an
entrance with transom and sidelights, and flanking French doors. Across the upper façade is a
balcony with turned posts and a plain railing. Other features are eight-over-eight sash windows, a
one-story rear shed wing, and a one-story brick wing on the west side. [tax records]
Mary and Robert L. Stone House
1100 West Forest Hills Boulevard
1963
Contributing Building
One-and-a-half-story side-gabled brick Colonial Revival-style house with three gabled dormers,
a center recessed porch with arched bays and flush wood sheathing, and a door with sidelights.
Windows are eight-over-eight, six-over-six and four-over-four sash. Set on a raised basement,
with a rear carport attached by a breezeway. [tax records, 1967 CD]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 11 Durham County, NC
Forestwood Drive
Margaret and Clifton Cherback House
235 Forestwood Drive
1963
Contributing Building
Brick and frame split-level house with a brick entrance stoop with metal railing, eight-over-
twelve and eight-over-eight sash windows, and an interior chimney. Alterations included painted
brick, aluminum siding, and some replacement windows. [tax records, 1966 CD]
Hermitage Court
Sarah and Albert D. Weeks House
1507 Hermitage Court
1962
Contributing Building
Side-gabled brick Ranch house with large interior chimney, a door with a stoop and a metal
railing, replacement 8-over-1 sash windows, and flanking recessed wings. The left wing is set at
an angle to the main block. The right wing is a garage with a latticework brick wall. The brick is
painted. Albert Weeks was president of Weeks Motors Inc. His wife, Sarah, was vice-president
of the business. Tax records lists a construction date of 1901, but its style and form do not
support that information. The house is first listed in the 1963 city directory. [tax records, 1963
CD]
Dr. Everitt I. Bugg Jr. House
1544 Hermitage Court
ca. 1950
DEMOLISHED
The brick Ranch house has been demolished.
Kent Street
Betty and Virgil Ashbaugh Jr. House
1523 Kent Street
1961
Contributing Building
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 12 Durham County, NC
Modernist, side-gable Ranch house with a side-gable roof, vertical wood siding, sliding metal
windows, and a recessed porch with glazed walls. Brick covers the walls up to the window sills,
and extends to the south of the façade to anchor a small original storage shed. A solid high
wooden fence encloses the side yard. Virgil Ashbaugh Jr., who grew up in the house to the rear
at 1022 Westwood Dr., built the house and lived here for some forty years. In the early 1960s, he
was president and manager of Durham Dairy Products Inc. [tax records, information from owner,
1963 CD]
Betty and H. Gordon Tuggle House
1601 Kent Street
1956
Contributing Building
Small L-plan Contemporary-style house with wide eaves, asbestos siding, a large side chimney,
and a wall of high windows facing the street. The east wing has been extended in two phases,
including a shallow porch. The house was constructed of prefabricated sections. The 1956 city
directory lists it as “under construction” in 1956, although tax records give 1955 as the
construction date. H. The Tuggles were the owner-occupants in 1958. He was a tobacconist for
W. L Robinson Company. [tax records, information from owner, 1956 and 1958 CDs]
Garage
1956, ca. 2000
Noncontributing Building
Originally a carport, this has been remodeled as a garage with sheet-metal siding and
corrugated plexiglass windows.
Margurite and Fred H. Stubblefield House
1711 Kent Street
1960
Contributing Building
Side-gable brick Ranch house with a recessed door with sidelights, a brick stoop and metal
railing, a front projecting bay window, and a left wing with plywood siding (perhaps originally a
garage was located in this wing). The one-over-one sash windows are probably replacements.
The 1963 city directory lists Margurite and Fred H. Stubblefield as the owners/occupants. He
was the manager for Dillon Supply Company. [tax records, 1963 CD]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 13 Durham County, NC
Dorothy and Laurence Aydlett House
1715 Kent Street
1962
Contributing Building
Brick split-level house with vinyl siding on the upper level, a center chimney, a door with
sidelights, and 2-over-2 horizontal sash. Some six-over-six sash windows. The bay windows in
the upper level may be additions. The 1963 city directory lists the Aydletts as the
owners/occupants. He was a reporter for the Durham Herald. [tax records, 1963 CD]
Shepherd Street
Mary and Blackwell Brogden House
1406 Shepherd Street
1961
Contributing Building
Two-story side-gable brick Colonial Revival-style house with an exterior end chimney and an
interior chimney, an entrance with sidelights and a classical surround, and a circular porch with
slender columns. Windows have eight-over-eight sash. The brick is painted. The Brogdens
bought the parcel in August 1960 and the house first appears in the 1963 city directory with the
Brogdens as occupants. [tax records, information from owner]
Mary and Blackwell Markham Brogden Sr. House
1408 Shepherd Street
1960
Contributing Building
Modernist brick side-gabled split-level house with an overhanging upper level with vertical
wood sheathing. The recessed entrance is glazed to the roof line, and a band of sliding wood
windows occupies the left two-thirds of the façade. In the lower level is a garage. 1410 Shepherd
Street, the adjacent house, is of similar design and age. It was listed as vacant in the 1961 city
directory. The Brogdens are listed as owners/occupants in the 1962 city directory. Blackwell
Brodgen Sr. (1921-1980) was a prominent Durham lawyer. [tax records, 1961, 1962 CD,
www.andjusticeforall.dconc.gov]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 14 Durham County, NC
Dorothy and John Borden House
1410 Shepherd Street
1959
Contributing Building
Modernist brick side-gabled split-level house with a recessed entrance that is glazed to the
roofline, a band of sliding wood windows in the right two-thirds of the façade, and an open two-
car garage in the lower level. 1408 Shepherd Street, the adjacent house, is of similar but not
identical design. The Bordens are listed as owners and occupants in the 1962 city directory. Mr.
Borden was a salesman for his family’s business, Borden Brick and Tile Company. [Durham
County Deeds 1261/623]
Charlotte and Alvis Carl (A. C.) Sorrell House
1414 Shepherd Street
1949, 1960
Contributing Building
Two-story side-gable Colonial Revival-style house with the upper story having a shallow jetty.
Other features are six-over-six sash windows, exterior end chimneys, and a 2-story right side
wing added in 1960. Aluminum siding sheathes the exterior. Alvis C. Sorrell, an accountant at
Erwin Mills, and his wife Charlotte Tilley Sorrell were listed as owners-occupants in the 1956
city directory. [1956 CD; information from owner; tax records]
Starlight Drive
House
1003 Starlight Drive
1963
Contributing Building
Side-gabled brick Ranch house on a raised basement with a recessed porch with wooden posts
and railing, a front picture window, and two-over-two horizontal sash windows. [tax records,
Durham County Deed book 6022, page 631]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 15 Durham County, NC
Summit Street
House
2109 Summit Street
2013
Noncontributing Building
One-and-half-story, front-gabled, neo-Craftsman house with a lower, front-facing gable on the
north side of the façade. A shed roof porch with a single bungalow-style pier on a brick plinth is
on the south side of the façade. A gabled dormer occupies the south roof slope. Windows are six-
over-six, double-hung sash of an unknown material. Foundation is brick veneer and exterior is
sheathed with fiber cement horizontal siding with fiber cement shingles in the front gables.
Sycamore Street
Doris and James O’Neal House
1015 Sycamore Street
1956
Contributing Building
Hip-roof brick Ranch house set on a raised basement with a recessed door with sidelights and
metal posts and railing, two-over-two horizontal sash windows, and an interior chimney. The
O’Neals were listed as the owners/occupants in the 1957 city directory. He worked as a teller at
Durham Bank and Trust. [tax records, 1957 CD]
Mary D. and Webb C. Howell Jr. House
1024 Sycamore Street
1957
Contributing Building
Side-gable brick Ranch house with a front-gable wing with a corner door with pilasters, sheltered
by an entrance porch with decorative iron posts and railing. Flanking the door are a bay window
and a polygonal window. Windows are metal awning type. The house is listed as “under
construction” in the 1957 city directory. The couple first appears at this address in the 1958 city
directory. Webb Howell was a dentist. [1958 CD]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 16 Durham County, NC
Margaret and John M. Cheek Jr. House
1025 Sycamore Street
1957
Contributing Building
One-and-a-half-story gable-and-wing Colonial Revival- style house with a front shed porch with
boxed posts, replacement windows, and a front shed dormer. The house has a raised basement,
painted brick walls, a door with sidelights and a pilastered surround, and a front fixed multi-pane
window. In the 1957 city directory it was listed as “under construction.” The Cheeks appear as
owners/occupants in the 1958 city directory. John M. Cheek Jr. was a physician. [tax records,
1957 and 1958 CDs]
Ward Street
House
1202 Ward Street
1960
Contributing Building
Brick split-level house with side-gable roof, interior chimney, eight-over-eight and six-over-six
sash windows, and a shed porch with boxed posts and metal railing. The brick has been painted.
[tax records, Durham County Deeds 5307/382]
Marion and Wense Grabarek House
1212 Ward Street
1951
Contributing Building
Six-bay-wide brick side-gabled split-level house with an interior chimney, eight-over-eight and
six-over-six sash windows, and a fixed multi-pane window. Other features are a recessed door, a
brick stoop with metal railing, and a projecting bay window with concave metal roof. At the left
is an open garage, at right is a raised basement. Wense Grabarek served as mayor of Durham
from 1963 to 1971, a crucial period in Durham’s civil rights history. He and his wife remain as
owners and occupants of the property. [tax records, Durham County Deed book 193, page 406]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 7 Page 17 Durham County, NC
Westwood Drive
Donleen and Ralph N. Strayhorn House
1021 Westwood Drive
1961
Contributing Building
Two-story side-gable brick Colonial Revival-style house with exterior end chimneys and a 1-
story left side wing. The center bay projects as a pavilion, crowned by a pediment with lunette.
Authentic colonial details include twelve-over-twelve and eight-over-eight sash windows with
jack arches, an entrance with transom, sidelights, and a crossetted surround, and a Doric entrance
porch with a paneled roof railing. The 1961 city directory lists the Strayhorns as
owners/occupants. Mr. Strayhorn was a lawyer and member of the North Carolina House of
Representatives in the late 1950s. [tax records, 1961 CD]
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 8 Page 18 Durham County, NC
Period of Significance
1956-1965
Architect/Builder
Architect: Carr, Robert W.
Webb, James
Builder: Wilkerson, T.W.
Summary of Significance
The Forest Hills Historic District was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2005
under Criteria A and C with a period of significance of 1925 through ca. 1955. The end date for
the period of significance reflected the fact that development after 1955 occurred less than fifty
years before listing and was not exceptionally significant. This additional documentation extends
the period of significance to 1965, during which time development continued in the pattern
established during the original National Register-listed period of significance wherein large
architect-designed houses and smaller dwellings were built on parcels located along primarily
curvilinear streets. The district is locally significant and meets Criterion C in the area of
Architecture for the period 1956 through 1965 for its significant collection of domestic styles
including the Colonial Revival, Ranch, and Modernist idioms such as contemporary and split-
level houses. Although some construction continued after 1965, that development is not of
exceptional significance.
Historical Background: 1956-1965
By 1956, a good deal of Forest Hills was built out and development continued on streets near the
edges of the historic district’s boundary. Beverly Drive and Kent Street saw most of the
construction in the 1956 to 1965 period. Sixteen of twenty-five houses on Beverly Drive went up
in these years, and four of eight houses were built on the part of Kent Street within the district.
Other houses completed the build-out of blocks begun in the 1940s and early 1950s, such as on
Shepherd Street and Starlight Drive. A few houses were infill in older areas, like the Ranch
house at 1407 Arnette Avenue. Residents of these new houses, as in previous decades, were
professionals and local business owners or managers and their families.
Other established Durham neighborhoods experienced similar infill development at this time. In-
town neighborhoods with undeveloped tracts, like Watts-Hillandale and Duke Park, saw sections
of new construction. Meanwhile, individual mid-century houses went up on single empty parcels
in many established white residential neighborhoods, including Trinity Park, Duke Park, Watts-
Hillandale, Morehead Hill, and Burch Avenue. Hope Valley, not constrained by surrounding
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 8 Page 19 Durham County, NC
development, expanded with newly platted sections that consumed more farmland. Newer
neighborhoods for upper middle-class white professionals, like Duke Forest, established south of
Duke University in 1929 but largely developed in the 1940s through the 1960s, and Argonne
Hills, established in the 1950s in northern Durham, continued to grow as well.
1
In the ten years since listing the district in the National Register of Historic Places, little has
changed in the Forest Hills Historic District. A couple of new houses have been built in recent
years on previously vacant parcels: 429 Carolina Circle was built in 2010 and a house at 1211
Bivins was recently completed. The neighborhood has not experienced dramatic remodeling or
replacement of historic dwellings with new ones, although the contributing house at 1544
Hermitage Court was demolished in 2012. The district’s overall integrity remains high and is
enhanced by the extension of the period of significance.
Architectural Context: 1956-1965
In the period 1956 through 1965, as in the earlier decades of development, architect-designed
houses combined with dwellings built from builders’ plan books and popular magazines to create
the streetscape. Houses in Forest Hills from this period reflect either the Colonial Revival or the
Modernist style, with the former being a bit more popular.
2
The Colonial Revival style in this period adopted some elements of mid-century residential
building, including concessions for the car as well as some simplicity of ornament ushered in by
the Modernist movement. Robert W. Carr designed a Colonial Revival house for physician
James E. Davis, chair of the Department of Surgery at Watts Hospital, at 7 Beverly Drive in
1959. Academic detailing includes the modillion cornice and sidelights at the center entry, but
the attached one-car garage is a sign of the car-centric times: Earlier garages were separate from
and subsidiary to the house. The 1958 Colonial Revival-style house at 63 Beverly Drive is a one-
and-a-half-story dwelling with flanking side wings and a slate roof with three gabled dormers,
but it has the broad, low-slung facade associated with the Ranch style. At 1804 Cedar Street, a
1961 Colonial Revival-style house has eight-over-twelve sash, a gabled front wing, and a corner
porch with copper hood, but the styling is more stripped-down, as was the fashion into the
1960s.
3
Modernism, never overwhelmingly popular in Durham, thrived in Forest Hills in this period.
E.K. Powe Jr. hired James Webb of Chapel Hill to design a Modernist house at 81 Beverly
1
Claudia Roberts Brown, Diane E. Lea, and Robert M. Leary, The Durham Architectural and Historic Inventory
(Durham: City of Durham, 1982), 299-301; “Lochmoor,” www.opendurham.org, viewed January 20, 2014.
2
Roberts et al., 284.
3
Carr interview.
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 8 Page 20 Durham County, NC
Drive. Two roof forms—a lower flat roof combined with a taller shallow gable over clerestory
windows—typifies Webb’s juxtaposition of flat and pitched roofs. Archie Royal Davis designed
the George and Lois Herbert House at 46 Beverly Drive, a Modernist split-level house with one-
and two-story blocks set at a diagonal to each other. For his own family, Davis modified a
Modernist split-level plan purchased from Sunset Magazine at 52 Beverly Drive in 1962.
4
Other houses throughout the neighborhood were more modest in scope if not always in size.
Popular mid-century types like the Ranch and the split-level abound in this period. They might
have detailing derivative of either the Colonial Revival or the Modernist style, or they might mix
elements of both. Examples include the O’Neal House at 1015 Sycamore Drive, a Ranch with
echoes of the Colonial Revival style—faux shutters and entrance sidelights—along with
sheltering eaves and likely the more open living plan common with Ranch houses. The two-story
traditional 1960 house at 1202 Ward Street has a side-gabled roof, faux shutters, multi-light
double-hung wood sash, and a six-panel front door derived from the Colonial Revival style, but
the overall presentation remains modest and includes an integrated garage at one end of the
facade at the first floor. A Ranch at 115 Briar Cliff Road, ignores the Colonial Revival style in
favor of some Modernist details: sheltering eaves and an integrated carport.
Architecturally, Hope Valley saw the same trends as Forest Hills in this period, with architect-
designed and larger plan book houses filling empty parcels or tracts. Modernist houses are in
greater evidence in Forest Hills than in Hope Valley, but the premier Modernist neighborhood
from this period was Duke Forest, a newer neighborhood platted in 1929 but that saw substantial
development in later decades. Duke Forest, unlike Durham’s other neighborhoods, had no
speculative houses. The entire neighborhood is custom built, originally only for professors at
Duke University. By the 1950s and 1960s, those academics often chose to erect a Modernist
house in conjunction with an architect, but the neighborhood also includes Ranches and split-
levels.
In Durham’s other established white neighborhoods, houses from this period were generally
more modest than those seen in Forest Hills, but they also tended to be popular mid-century
forms, namely houses with a rectangular footprint, dressed in Colonial Revival-style or
Modernist details. Split-levels and Ranches line the streets in the northwest corner of Watts
Hillandale, sporting faux shutters and double-hung divided sash derived from the Colonial
Revival style or Modernist-inspired details like single-pane casement or awning windows and
deep roof overhangs. An exception is the Jon Condoret-designed Modernist house at 2512 W.
Club Boulevard. Duke Park’s Peace and Shawnee streets, built out in the 1950s, feature very
modest Modernist Ranches and slightly larger split-levels. These new dwellings in the central
4
Carr interview; “Archie Royal Davis,” at ncmodernist.org, viewed Jan 15, 2014.
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 8 Page 21 Durham County, NC
neighborhoods were undoubtedly built from purchased plans or builder’s stock plans, in contrast
with the many architect-designed houses of the period in the farther-flung neighborhoods.
5
5
Cynthia de Miranda, “Hope Valley Historic District National Register Nomination,”
http://www.hpo.ncdcr.gov/nr/DH2730.pdf, viewed January 17, 2014; Roberts et al., 299-301; “Jon Condoret,”
www.ncmodernist.org, viewed January 20, 2014.
NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018
(8-86)
United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service
National Register of Historic Places
Continuation Sheet
Forest Hills Historic District Additional Documentation
Section number 9, 11 Page 22 Durham County, NC
Section 9: Bibliography
Carr, Robert W. and son Robert W. Carr Jr. Interview with M. Ruth Little, March 29, 2005.
Durham City Directories, Durham County Register of Deeds Office, Durham NC.
Durham County Tax Administration, online records searches at
http://gisweb.durhamnc.gov/gomaps/map/index.cfm.
Goetz, Daniel. 1414 Shepherd Street, interview with Jennifer Martin, January 16, 2014.
Koviach, Jodi. 1406 Shepherd Street, email communication with Jennifer Martin, 2013-2014.
North Carolina Modernist Houses, www.ncmodernist.org.
Section 11. Form prepared by:
Jennifer Martin and Cynthia de Miranda
MdM Historical Consultants
PO Box 1399
Durham, NC 27702
919.906.3136
June 24, 2014
