As UNC continued to expand through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth century, the shortage of housing in Chapel Hill was felt particularly by incoming professors and other faculty members. As a result, beginning in 1919 or 1920, UNC had 10 houses constructed for faculty use, creating a "faculty row" and calling the neighborhood "Park Place."
Although no records have been found detailing the University’s decision to create Park Place, various documents and local newspaper articles date the start of construction as sometime between late 1919 and early 1920; individual houses were finished and occupied starting in the fall of 1920 and ending in early 1921. The houses all were prefabricated kit houses from either Aladdin or Sears & Roebuck, and all were near identical bungalow-style homes.[1] Four additional small houses, built on adjacent private property owned by Joseph Hyde Pratt, were called the "Pratt Cottages."
A September 25, 1920 Tar Heel newspaper article announced that “ten new cottages for the use of the faculty which have been under construction since commencement have been completed and several of them already occupied.”[2] The article refers to the construction as having been recently dubbed “Park Place.” In a report from the then University Business Manager Charles T. Woollen, describing material changes in the physical plant of the University, he claims that “Ten faculty houses are under construction. This work was delayed three month by freight embargoes, but the houses will be ready for occupancy by the opening of the Fall Quarter.[3]
Previously, the area was nicknamed “China Town” (named for broken "china" plates, bowls, etc., that had been dumped there as refuse, not for people of Chinese descent living there) since “the plat had been sort of a dumping ground before the cottages were built.”[5] Soon after the first residents — a combination of professors, various faculty, and their families — moved in, a pattern to the inhabitants emerged. It seems that each of the 10 homes in the housing community averaged two to three children, and soon the nickname “Baby Hollow” became ubiquitous with Park Place.[4]
In 1977, the town's Historic District Commission denied the university's request to demolish the remaining historic faculty houses. However, after months of debate among the university, neighbors, the Chapel Hill Preservation Society, and the town, the North Carolina legislature passed House Bill 1281, exempting state (and therefore university) property from local historic district oversight, thus clearing the way for construction of Brooks Hall and the demolition of the historic faculty structures.
All of the dwellings (except #620 and the four "Pratt Cottages") were demolished between 1977 and 1980 to make room for Brooks Hall and the Park Place parking lot. The four "Pratt Cottages" were demolished between 2015 and 2021. The one surviving house, at 620 Park Place, has been restored and preserved through the efforts of Preservation Chapel Hill and is owned by UNC.
The known original addresses were:
408 (later 601) Park Place Drive; now the site of the parking lot
410 (later 603) Park Place Drive; now the site of the parking lot
412 (later 607) Park Place Drive; now the site of the parking lot
414 (later 611) Park Place Drive; now the site of the parking lot
418 (later 613, now 620) Park Place Drive; it still exists and has been restored
416 (later 615) Park Place Drive; now the site of the parking lot
402 (later 116) S. Boundary Street; now the site of Brooks Hall
404 (later 120) S. Boundary Street; now the site of Brooks Hall
319 Park Place (later 322 Hooper Lane); now the site of Brooks Hall
321 Park Place (later 324 Hooper Lane); now the site of Brooks Hall
Also included were:
420-1 (later 109-1) Park Place Drive; demolished circa 2015
420-2 (later 109-2) Park Place Drive; demolished circa 2021
420-3 (later 109-3) Park Place Drive; demolished circa 2021
420-4 (later 109-4) Park Place Drive; demolished circa 2021
"New faculty row in twelve-inch snow, 27 Jan 1921," view north (North Carolina Collection Photographic Archives, The Wilson Library, UNC)
1925 Sanborn map excerpt, showing the neighborhood
1925 Sanborn map excerpt, showing the western edge of the neighborhood
"Map of Battle Park, Prepared for the Battle Park Ass’n, Inc., by H. M. Trimble," May 1933, showing Park Place at mid-right
1934 "Chapel Hill and Suburbs" map excerpt
March 1950 Chapel Hill Planning Area Map excerpt, showing neighborhood and structures
From The Tar Heel, September 25, 1920
SOURCES:
Much of the above is from An Archaeological and Historical Investigation of the Battle Park Pavilion Site (31OR639) on the Campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, by Andrius Valiunas, 2012.
[1] Kim Devins, ”Catalog Cottage” Revived in Chapel Hill. Connoisseur, January 5, 1984; Cottages for Faculty Completed, September 25, 1920, The Tar Heel (newspaper)
[2] Cottages for Faculty Completed, September 25, 1920, The Tar Heel (newspaper)
[3] Report of the Business Manager, July 1, 1920. University of North Carolina Papers #40005, University Archives, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
[4] Bill Prouty, Shortcut Stirs Up Memories, The Chapel Hill Newspaper, October 3, 1982.
[5] Bill Prouty, Park Place “Settlement”: One House Remains. The Chapel Hill Newspaper, October 12, 1980.
RESOURCES:
Add new comment
Log in or register to post comments.