home, sweet home
05.15.11 - 10:19 pm
By Neil Offen
noffen@heraldsun.com; 419-6646
DURHAM -- On his wide, very Southern front porch, behind the flower boxes full of geraniums, Adrian Brown sat on his black rocking chair, observing his Cleveland-Holloway neighborhood.
"You can really see the regeneration of the neighborhood from this corner," Brown said. "Don't these houses look great?"
So does Brown's, at the corner of Oakwood Avenue and Ottowa Street. The late Queen Anne, springlike in its new avocado green paint, will be one of the centerpieces of next month's fourth annual Cleveland-Holloway Home Tour, showcasing the neighborhood residents refer to as "Durham's front porch."
Until the past few years, the near-downtown area, just to the northeast of the main public library, had struggled. Once one of Durham's wealthiest neighborhoods, many homeowners had abandoned the area in the post World War II-era and many homes were literally falling apart.
That included the Oakwood house, built in 1908.
A little over two years ago, the house was slated for demolition by the city. "It was scheduled to go," said Brown's partner, Keith Flynn. "It was on the list. But, fortunately, the city never got around to tearing it down."
Instead, Brown and Flynn fixed it up.
They are among the influx of new residents interested in urban living who have moved into Cleveland-Holloway during the past few years, buying reasonably priced properties and fixing them up.
"Two years ago, when we first saw the house, I didn't feel I could walk very far into it," Brown said. "It seemed almost treacherous."
Less than a year ago, Brown's and Flynn's house was still pretty much a mess. Walls and floors were unfinished. There were paint cans everywhere, toilets in cartons and windows not yet installed.
The house's foundation -- at one point, Brown said, the building had sunk 14 inches -- had to be completely replaced.
Chimneys and fireplaces that had completely degraded also were replaced. Major infrastructure work was done.
Among many other renovations, a new kitchen was created, along with a sun room and the second part of the house's stairway. The kitchen that was on the top floor, when the building was a duplex, was turned into a master bathroom.
Where possible, the original wooden plank floors were brought back to life; where not possible, new floors -- but from older sites -- were brought in, to blend with the old.
Little changes were made as well, like turning a sidelight window in the kitchen into a spice cabinet.
Today, the home -- known as the Clapp-Ferguson House -- is filled with lovely area rugs, tasteful antiques, a brick-and-tiled fireplace, ceiling fans everywhere and has been nominated for a George & Mary Pyne Preservation Award from Preservation Durham.
On a wall near the entrance to the house is the framed birth certificate of Evelyn Mangum Jones, who was born in the home on Oct. 19, 1927.
"Her son drove by one day, saw the house, and told us his mother had been born here," Brown recalled. "It really reminded us of the bond you feel when you walk into a house like this." © heraldsun.com 2011
