DURHAM -- Formed in 1903, the Durham Circle of the International Order of the King's Sons and Daughters is the oldest service organization in Durham.
Early on, Brodie Duke donated a "nest egg" as well as land on the northeast corner of Buchanan and Gloria for the construction of a home for elderly women. The residents were expected to pay what they could and the organization covered the difference and any operating costs through their fundraising. The circle quickly outgrew this first building, which was moved in 1924 to make room for a new structure.
Milburn & Heister designed the current building -- a two-story Neoclassical brick structure with an impressive two-story columned front porch. The home continued to grow with a 12-bedroom addition at the rear, designed in 1955 by Durham architect George Hackney. The King's Daughters Home at 204 N. Buchanan Blvd. provided a restful place for its residents. However, only three women and nine staff remained in the King's Daughters Home when it closed in 2006.
Since that time, many anxious eyes in the community focused on The home. Luckily, Deanna Colin Crossman took on the massive renovation to convert the building to a 17-room bed and breakfast and saved a piece of Durham history with their creative ideas for reuse.
It's not hard to imagine the work that went into this project: The restoration of wood details and windows, plumbing electrical updates, removing layers of Astroturf and other nonhistoric materials. The most dramatic transformation occurred in the front-entry, where a decades-old, two-story firewall was removed and the stairwell restored to its original configuration, based on an early photo and physical evidence. Public spaces were painstakingly preserved, while generally, pairs of rooms were combined to make a single suite with a private bath. To preserve the rhythm of the hallway openings, extra doors were sealed rather than removed. Transoms were fixed to meet code, but hardware was left in place for aesthetic and historic reasons.
In the large unfinished attic, Deanna Colin envisioned a loftlike living space for themselves that celebrated the riveted steel structure of the building. Bedrooms and bathrooms were constructed at each end of the space and an interior stair was extended to provide access to their new living quarters.
As a celebration of the building's history, each suite is named for a former resident or major supporter. Further, a mural was painted along the walls in the 1955 addition as a tribute to the King's Daughters. Thankfully, some furnishings from the original parlor, that had been sold when the residents moved out, were returned after the renovation was complete.
Two days before the building opened to the public, a private tea was held honoring the remaining King's Daughters and giving them a first look at all the loving hard work that went into saving their former home.
For their preservation of this Durham landmark, Preservation Durham presented its George Mary Pyne Award to the Crossmans.
To help celebrate Preservation Durham's 35th anniversary, The Herald-Sun each week is featuring a 2009 winner of the George and Mary Pyne Preservation Awards and the Preservation Durham Neighborhood Conservation Awards.
Preservation Durham has been saving houses and memories in Durham since 1974, when its first major projects were the establishment of the Historic Preservation Commission and the Downtown Historic District.
