[Durham INC] Preservation Durham's Annual Home Tour April 27 & 28, 2019!

[April Johnson]

[image: APR27.png]

*The Preservation Durham Annual Home Tour is back for 2019.*

Visit homes which reflect the housing boom of Post-WWII.
*April 27 & 28, 2019*

*Start location: Inhabit Real Estate, 2814 Hillsborough Rd, Durham, NC*

*Purchase Tickets Here <http://preservationdurham.org/2019-home-tour/>:*

In 2019, Preservation Durham is concentrating on residential architecture
just before and immediately following World War Two.  The Great Depression
of the 1930s wrecked the housing industry in America for nearly a decade.
The industry barely got back on its feet before America’s entry into the
war stopped home construction again as materials were diverted to the war
effort.  This double hiatus lead to a bumpy recovery, but a combination of
pent-up demand and renewed economic activity stimulated by New Deal
policies like the FHA loan program and veterans’ housing benefits in the G.
I. Bill, finally led to a post-war housing boom.

(Watch a short video about Redlining in Durham here
<https://www.facebook.com/PreservationDurham/videos/461836401223912/>.)

Turning away from the bungalows of the 1920s, architects looked for new
inspiration and found it a number of diverse sources.  The restoration of
Colonial Williamsburg by the Rockefeller family stimulated a new interest
in an American traditional style that ranged from small, practical,
entry-level homes promoted by government programs to high-end homes rich
with historically accurate detail.  Wartime industrialization and
mechanization led to experiments with new materials and new designs
resulting in fascinating modernist homes including the all-metal “Lustron”
house. Societal changes brought on by years of sacrifice during depression
and war changed American expectations of family life and architects
responded with the more informal Ranch style house.

During this period, home ownership became the central component of a new
“American Dream” of economic and social security. Of course, the picture
that developed was far from perfect.  The benefits of a renewed economy and
the post-war housing boom did not reach all people.  Old attitudes about
race and class survived.  Neighborhoods, like schools, shops, and other
institutions, remained segregated.  African Americans had little access to
financing and even black veterans found it difficult to enjoy their
hard-won housing benefits as lenders and government agencies instituted
systems of redlining.  But in Durham African American families did build
new homes in the new postwar styles.  Many of these are concentrated on
Pekoe Avenue and Nelson, Otis, and Cecil Streets.

For months now, Preservation Durham has been engaged in identifying nearly
one hundred houses across town representing pre- and post-World War Two
architecture in all its variety.  All the issues of this period are
manifested in Durham and, because Durham is like no other place, the story
has some unique Durham twists.  Our purpose is to promote a fuller public
appreciation of these houses, the people who lived in them, and Durham at
the time they were built.  We are planning a series of programs to tell
Durham’s special story during this complicated period, the high point of
which will be a tour of a handful of the best-preserved houses this
spring.  We have several examples of houses built in the Minimal
Traditional Style.  This is the house designed and funded by the federal
government to restore the housing industry and provide homes for WWII
vets.  Nearly 3,000,00 were built.  For three generations, these houses
have served as the gateway to homeownership for American families.  We have
a rare and wonderful Lustron house, the super-efficient, all-steel
experiment in housing.  We have a small but exquisite early Ranch Style
house that exhibits all the salient features of the style.  And we have two
lovely Williamsburg Colonials designed by a master of the idiom, Durham’s
own Archie Royal Davis.  The tour houses stretch across Durham’s historic
neighborhoods – Forest Hills, Trinity Park, Watts-Hillandale, and Northgate
Park.  Join us on the tour. See these houses in a new light.
www.preservationdurham.org


-- 


Consider Joining <http://preservationdurham.org/index.php/join-us/donate/> us
or making a Donation
<http://preservationdurham.org/index.php/join-us/donate/> to Preserve
Durham's cool!

Got talent? Got skills? Volunteer
<http://preservationdurham.org/index.php/join-us/volunteer/> and Preserve
Durham's cool!


[image: photo]
*April M. Johnson*
Executive Director, Preservation Durham

919-682-3036 | april at preservationdurham.org

www.preservationdurham.org
701 W. Main Street Ste. 310 Durham, NC 27701 | P.O. Box 25411, Durham NC
27702
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