208 W. FRANKLIN ST. / RALPH GRAVES HOUSE / WALTER DALLAM TOY HOUSE / SIGMA PHI EPSILON HOUSE
Built in
1878-1879
/ Modified in 1898
,
1947-1948
/ Demolished in 1947-1955
Architectural style:
Neighborhood:
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Last updated
- Wed, 10/11/2023 - 12:29pm by SteveR
Comments
Built in
1878-1879
/ Modified in 1898
,
1947-1948
/ Demolished in 1947-1955
Architectural style:
Neighborhood:
Built circa 1879 for/by UNC professor Ralph Henry Graves, Jr., on property purchased from W. G. and Mary N. Bowers.[1]
Graves died in July 1889; in October 1898 his widow, Julia Charlotte (Hooper) Graves, sold the property to UNC professor Walter Dallam Toy,[2] who used his house as a boarding house of sorts for unmarried fellow professors, and was knick-named "Bachelor's Hall."[3] In 1902, Toy married Jane "Jennie" Washington Bingham, thus ending the days of "Bachelor's Hall." Toy died of pneumonia in October 1933 (likely in this house), with Mrs. Toy remaining in the house.
In 1947, the Toy family sold the house and property to Egbert L. and Margaret D. Haywood, who leased it to the A&P Store chain to be the future site of a grocery store.[4]
Until the new store was built (in 1948), the former Toy House was rented by the Sigma Phi Epsilon ("Sig Ep") fraternity.[5] Although newspaper accounts state that the house was to be saved, unless it was moved to another location it was not.[6]
View north, 1948 (via UNC's Yackety Yack)
Front porch, 1948 (via UNC's Yackety Yack)
December 1915 Sanborn map excerpt (#693)
June 1925 Sanborn map excerpt (#206)
June 27, 1947 Chapel Hill Weekly
SOURCES
[1] Orange County Register of Deeds, Deed Book 45, Page 304; deed book 46, page 99
[2] Deed book 55, page 180
[3] Bryant, Bernard Lee. Occupants and structures of Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina at 5-year intervals, 1793-1998. (1999)
[4] Deed book 127, page 88; Deed book 127, page 298; Bryant 1999
[5] Bryant 1999
[6] June 27, 1947 Chapel Hill Weekly; 1955 USDA aerial photo 8P-124
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