3307 Devon Rd
Durham, NC, USA

National Register of Historic Places - Wiley and Elizabeth Forbus House

Statement of Significance:

The Forbus House has local significance under Criterion C in the area of Architecture. It is a well-articulated example of the rare Norman Provincial architectural style in a city with several early twentieth-century suburbs favoring picturesque revival styles. G. Murray Nelson of Raleigh designed the house for Dr. Wiley D. Forbus and Elizabeth Burger Forbus and their daughters. The house, completed in 1931, burned in 1933 and was immediately rebuilt. The asymmetrical massing, steeply pitched and varied roof forms, staggered chimney stacks, masonry walls, and most importantly the central round tower with conical roof and vertical windows, express the Norman Provincial style of the house. The Forbus House was one of the first erected in Hope Valley, a suburban development built around a Donald Ross-designed golf course and meant to attract the faculty of a growing university as well as the second generation of successful businessmen in a booming textile and tobacco town. The house remains one of the most notable in the neighborhood and in the city due to the thorough treatment it received in an unusual architectural style. The period of significance is 1933, the year the existing house was completed. The context and property type entitled "Picturesque Revival Styles: Houses" in the MPDF "Historic Resources of Durham" on page 7.18 provides context for establishing the Forbus House's significance under National Register Criterion C in the area of architecture; the MPDF, in fact, specifically mentions the Forbus House. Additional context for the Forbus House is provided herein.