{"nrhp_refnum":"85001777","name":"O'Brien, William Thomas, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"820 Wilkerson Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Durham","county":"Durham County","state":"NC","lat":36.001876319000075,"lon":-78.91505627399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-08-09","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame late Victorian house at 820 Wilkerson Avenue in Durham's West End neighborhood, built circa 1890. The builder is unknown.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the house is one of the oldest and most distinctive in the early West End, with a carefully detailed wraparound porch and original embossed tin shingle roof. It is also tied to William Thomas O'Brien, a master mechanic who perfected the Bonsack cigarette machine for W. Duke Sons & Company. O'Brien was also instrumental in establishing the Roman Catholic Church in Durham.","narrative":"Built around 1890 at 820 Wilkerson Avenue, this two-story frame house is among the oldest and most distinctive in Durham's West End neighborhood. Its most notable feature is a one-story wraparound porch with turned posts, sawn spandrels and a spool frieze, set beneath a cross-gable roof still covered in original embossed tin shingles. Inside, a center hall holds a staircase with chamfered newel posts, fluted trim and original heart pine floors. The house is associated with William Thomas O'Brien, who came to Durham in 1884 to install Bonsack cigarette rolling machines for W. Duke Sons & Company and then helped perfect them, enabling far greater cigarette production. O'Brien was also a leading lay supporter of Catholicism in Durham, donating a lot for Immaculate Conception Church, completed in 1905. He died in 1906. Later divided into four apartments, the house received an exterior restoration award in 1976 and remains in apartment use.","period_of_significance":"c. 1890","architect_builder":"unknown","architectural_style":"Vernacular late Victorian","criteria":["B","C"],"status_note":"Described as in good condition, altered, and in use as four apartments; exterior restored in 1976.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:48.897045-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/45/7177/47717745/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/85001777.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001777/4244f41d1b-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001777/4244f41d1b-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Maria Miracoli","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Thomas_O%27Brien_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Maria Miracoli</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:William_Thomas_O%27Brien_House.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"10000631","name":"Burch Avenue Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/burch-avenue-historic-district-10000631/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717745","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Thomas_O%27Brien_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19987349"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/durham-county/obrien-william-thomas-house-85001777/"}