News: Party houses no more
Reprinted with permission from The Herald Sun
Apr 14, 2008
DURHAM -- Gone are the days when red beer cups blossomed on certain Trinity Park lawns like spring flowers, colorful castoffs from a night of revelry by boisterous undergraduates.
At least 10 decades-old residences once branded as student "party houses" are no longer that.
College youths have had to find other places to rent.
The homes in question were purchased by Duke University in 2006 and then sold to owner-occupants who are lovingly restoring them to their former grandeur.
On Sunday, interested citizens viewed the results as they walked through the dwellings on North Buchanan Boulevard and nearby streets during a so-called "hard-hat home tour," designed to showcase a neighborhood in transition.
Nearby is the house where a 2006 off-campus party led to false sex-offense charges against three Duke lacrosse players.
Donna Dagavarian, who lives in the neighborhood, was ecstatic about the restoration efforts Sunday.
"We used to have lots of complaints about parties, naked students and people urinating in public," she said. "Now, we don't have that anymore.
"If somebody didn't buy these houses and renovate them, they would be lost," Dagavarian added. "That would have been tragic. These are historic properties."
Alan Spruyt, a contractor working on one of the old houses, agreed with that assessment.
"We used to be woken up at three in the morning by partying students," he recalled. "That has stopped, which is a good thing. What we are doing also is good to preserve the history of these houses and bring them back to their original integrity, so to speak."
Spruyt noted that environmentally friendly "green" features are being used in the restoration process.
For example, spray-foam insulation, solar hot-water heating and a device that uses recycled washing-machine water to flush toilets are high on the list of priorities.
Dan Jewell, a resident of the area, said there was a time when literally thousands of red beer cups littered the lawns of "party houses" after a night of debauchery.
"The change from then to now is fantastic," he said. "Having students in the neighborhood can be fine. But there needs to be moderation."
Larry Tilley voiced the same sentiment.
"I went to college," he said. "I was a party guy, too. But students need to co-exist with their neighbors. Some of the students who lived around here weren't trying to co-exist."
Those who bought the old houses apparently are pillars of the community, such as Sam and Jo Wells, who are renovating a 4,000-square-foot residence at 704 N. Buchanan Blvd.
Sam Wells is dean of Duke Chapel. Jo Wells teaches at Duke Divinity School.
Another house on Sunday's tour was built in 1906 and once was part of the old Watts Hospital complex. It now is occupied by Travis Pipkin and Rick Kappelmann, who is a physician.
© Copyright 2008 by The Durham Herald Company. All rights reserved. All material on heraldsun.com is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws and may not be reproduced or redistributed in any medium except as provided in the site's Terms of Use.
