{"nrhp_refnum":"85001793","name":"Durham Cotton Mills Village Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Byrd and Middle Sts., E. Frontage Rd. and Resevoir St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Durham","county":"Durham County","state":"NC","lat":35.97673343300005,"lon":-78.88200208651193,"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 5.92-acre historic district of twenty dwellings in the 600 blocks of Middle and Reservoir streets in Durham, North Carolina. Fifteen are mill houses built in 1884-1885 by the Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company; five are early 1980s duplexes.","why_significant":"It is the largest and most intact surviving part of Durham's first mill village, built by Julian S. Carr and the Odell family. The mill helped diversify Durham's economy beyond tobacco. The fifteen identical story-and-a-jump houses with board and batten main facades are believed to be unique in the North Carolina piedmont.","narrative":"Twenty dwellings on Middle and Reservoir streets in Durham make up what remains of the city's first textile mill village. Fifteen are one-and-one-half-story mill houses built in 1884-1885 for workers of the Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company, founded by Julian S. Carr with members of the Odell family, experienced textile manufacturers. The mill gave Durham a manufacturing base beyond tobacco, supplying cloth for tobacco pouches and later ginghams. The houses are one room deep with a central chimney and a low \"story and a jump\" form, and their main facades are covered in board and molded batten siding. Inventories elsewhere in the North Carolina piedmont have found no matching examples. Porches have been enclosed and rear additions made, but the basic form and distinctive siding survive. The six-lane expressway isolates the district from the mill and the surrounding neighborhood. The houses are rented, in deteriorated condition, and five brick duplexes built since 1980 have intruded among them.","period_of_significance":"1800-1899 (specific date: mid 1880s)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Story-and-a-jump mill houses with board and molded batten sheathing","criteria":["A","B","C"],"status_note":"Occupied rental property in deteriorated condition; owners have replaced some mill houses with brick-veneered duplexes since 1980, and the remaining houses face possible demolition.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:50.887378-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/47/7177/47717747/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/85001793.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001793/7f4ddf88e9-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85001793/7f4ddf88e9-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:610_Reservoir,_Durham.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:610_Reservoir,_Durham.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717747","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Durham_Cotton_Mills_Village_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19461450"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/durham-county/durham-cotton-mills-village-historic-district-85001793/"}