3 IN THE ATTIC

3 IN THE ATTIC


A tour of the location sites of the 1968 film "Three in the Attic" that was shot in Chapel Hill

115 BATTLE LANE / GRAHAM HOUSE / BULRUSHES

115
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
1908
/ Modified in
2014
Architectural style: 
,
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

needs more work

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Last updated

  • Wed, 01/27/2021 - 6:41pm by SteveR

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115
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
1908
/ Modified in
2014
Architectural style: 
,
Construction type: 
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

 

Built in 1908 for Edward Kidder Graham (Graham was a UNC alumnus, taught the University’s first journalism course, and was UNC president from 1914 to 1918 when he died of the flu) and his wife Susan Williams Moses (who died in 1916).
 
Built in the Colonial Revival style with a Craftsman style porch.
 
(Image courtesy Chapel Hill Preservation)
 
Later lodgers included Edward's cousin Frank Porter Graham, Charlie Tillett, and Kemp Battle, and Frank Winslow (all three of whom later were UNC trustees); they rented the second floor.
 
The Graham family moved out in 1914 but continued to own it until 1949.
 
In 1945, the University rented it from the Graham family as a sorority chapter house for Alpha Gamma Delta (Gamma Epsilon Chapter); the sorority nicknamed it "the little brown house." After a 1948 fire in the structure, the University ended its lease.
 
Winter scene (via UNC's 1946 Yackety Yack)
 
Hand drawing (via UNC's 1948 Yackety Yack)
 
 
In 1949 the property was sold by the Graham family to Joseph C. Warren.
 
In 1968, the attic was used in the film Three in the Attic, as an interior location for "Ford Hall" (a fictitious university dormitory).
 
In May 1998 the house was sold by Joseph C. Warren to Sherman Richardson. After decades of extreme neglect, the house was condemned in 2008, with a demolition order being issued by the Chapel Hill Historic District Commission. 
 
Chapel Hill resident Molly Froelich bought the home in 2010 and began restorating the house. The current owner, Martin Lindsey, completed the restoration/renovation.
 
From the Chapel Hill Historic District/National Register of Historic Places nomination form:
"The two-story, cross-gabled, transitional Colonial Revival-Craftsman-style house is three bays wide and double-pile with the right (south) two bays projecting under a front-gabled roof. The house has a shingled exterior, wide two-over-one wood-sash windows on the first floor and two-over-two woodsash windows on the second floor. The one-light-over-two-panel door, centered on the façade, is flanked by two-light-over-two-panel sidelights and sheltered by a two-bay-wide, hip-roofed porch supported by grouped columns on shingled piers. A pedimented gable marks the entrance to the porch. There are projecting one-story hip-roofed bays on the right and left (north) elevations and tripartite two-over-two windows in each gable. A gabled, screened porch at the right rear (southeast) has been recently reconstructed and a two-story, gabled wing at the left rear was also added as part of the 2014 renovation. The house was built in 1908 for professor of English, Edward Kidder Graham, and his wife, Susan Williams Moses [Little]. "
 
June 2019, via Google Streetview

 

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303 E. FRANKLIN ST. / ALPHA TAU OMEGA FRATERNITY HOUSE

303
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
1930
Architectural style: 
,
Construction type: 
,
Local Historic District: 
National Register: 
Type: 

This structure was built for the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity in 1929-1930. 

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In tours

Last updated

  • Thu, 04/01/2021 - 4:20pm by SteveR

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303
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
1930
Architectural style: 
,
Construction type: 
,
Local Historic District: 
National Register: 
Type: 

 

This structure was purpose-built for the Alpha Tau Omega (A.T.O.) Fraternity in 1929-1930. It was designed by Nathaniel C. Curtis, a professor of architecture at Tulane University and a UNC alumnus. It was built at a cost of ,353.50, "not counting lighting fixtures."

The property was purchased in November 1891 by the trustees of the Alpha Delta Chapter of the A.T.O. The first structure was a wood frame house that was built in 1893 for the fraternity. A 1909 fire destroyed the first house, and a new one was constructed. Another fire, in 1927, caused the second structure's demise. 

1901, showing first ATO fraternity house (via UNC's Yackety Yack)

An excerpt from the June 5, 1909 Daily Tar Heel

1915 Sanborn Map excerpt ("FRATERNITY HO." at #502)

View north, 1918, showing the second house (via UNC's Yackety Yack)

An excerpt from the May 7, 1927 Daily Tar Heel

What it was to look like; an architectural study by J. Cozby Byrd and Schell Lewis, 1927

What it actually looked like; 1931 (via UNC's Yackety Yack)

 1931 (via UNC's Yackety Yack)

 

During World War II, when military programs at UNC put a strain on the campus housing situation and many fraternity members were serving in the military, the A.T.O. house was occupied by the Delta Delta Delta sorority from September 1943 to early 1946. By June 1946, A.T.O. had moved back into their house.

1945 drawing (via UNC's Yackety Yack)

View north, June 2019 (via Google Streetview)

 

From the National Registry nomination:

"A rare example of the Tudor Revival style in the district, this two-and-a-half-story, steeply pitched side-gabled building was erected as a fraternity house in 1930. The building is five bays wide with a Flemish-bond brick veneer, stone detailing including a stone veneer on the center three bays, and faux half-timbering in the gables. There is a corbelled interior brick chimney and projecting front-gabled bays on each end of the façade. The right (east) gabled bay has brick on the first floor with faux halftimbering on the second floor and in the gable. The left (west) gabled bay has brick on the first and second floors with faux half-timbering only in the gable. The building has replacement eight- and tenlight casement windows throughout with stone windowsills and soldier-course brick lintels except where there is half-timbering above the windows. The center three bays have a crenelated parapet, buttresses with cast-stone shoulders, and small windows with stone lintels and keystones. Double-leaf batten doors are recessed behind an arched cast-stone entry with a cast-stone shield under a broken pediment bearing the name of the fraternity over the entrance. To the right (east) of the entrance, a two-story, stoneveneered projecting bay with tall windows reveals a staircase inside. The side elevations feature brick on the first and second floors with faux half-timbering in the gables. One-story, projecting bays on the left (west) and right elevations have brick veneer and eight-light casement windows separated by turned pilasters. An inset porch at the left rear (northwest) is supported by stone arches and an uncovered slate terrace extends from its left elevation and wraps around the façade to the front entrance. On the rear elevation, a two-story, gabled bay projects from the left rear (northwest) and there is a shed-roofed dormer centered on the rear roofline. A two-story gabled ell at the right rear (northeast) has a two-story bay projecting from its east elevation, and a full-depth, shed-roofed bay on its east elevation, all covered with stucco. Exterior metal fire stairs extend to the windows in the left gable end and the rear of the gabled ell. There is a low stone wall at the sidewalk. The building, designed by C. C. Curtis, was completed in 1930."

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SOUTHERN RAILWAY STATION - CARRBORO

201
,
Carrboro
NC
Built in
circa 1913
/ Modified in
1975
Construction type: 
Neighborhood: 
Type: 

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  • Sat, 08/20/2022 - 9:48am by gary

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201
,
Carrboro
NC
Built in
circa 1913
/ Modified in
1975
Construction type: 
Neighborhood: 
Type: 

 

View north, 1913 (from UNC's Yackety Yack)

View north, 1921 (from UNC's Yackety Yack)

From The News of Orange, 6.23.1949

View north west, circa 1970 (via Chapel Hill Historical Society)

1960s, view north (via Mack Watts collection)

View south west, circa 1970 (from http://carrboro.com/carrborohistory.shtml)

1977 ad (via the Daily Tar Heel)

1979 (via Chapel Hill Historical Society)

05.22.11 (G. Kueber)

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120 W. ROSEMARY ST. / THE SHACK

120
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
circa 1930
/ Demolished in
1979
Construction type: 
,
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

The site of the one time oldest bar in Chapel Hill, The Shack (1945-1979)

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In tours

Last updated

  • Fri, 02/12/2021 - 5:44pm by SteveR

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120
,
Chapel Hill
NC
Built in
circa 1930
/ Demolished in
1979
Construction type: 
,
Local Historic District: 
Type: 

 

View north west, 1960s

Interior, 1960s

View north west, circa 1978 (photo credit unknown)

View north west, 1979 (via the Daily Tar Heel)

Interior and "Wheaties," October 1977 (photo via the Daily Tar Heel)

Interior, 1979 (photo by L. C. Barbour, via the Daily Tar Heel)

1967 ad (via the Daily Tar Heel)

 

Built in the 1930s as a garage for jitneys (i.e. large touring cars used as public transportation) that took UNC students to and from the train station in Durham. Then was the Carolina Cycle Company starting in early 1946.

1946 ad (via the Daily Tar Heel)

 

In late 1947, Thomas Braxton "Brack" Creel rented the property and remodeled it into The Shack, a beer and snack bar. In early 1955, Creel retired and his son-in-law Walter T. Harville took over the lease and business. In the 1960s Harville sold the business to Bill Sparrow. Then Berkley Tulloch co-owned/operated the establishment until 1971 when John L. "Wheaties" Richardson took it over.

The Shack was a segregated establishment, and there were calls for a boycott of the place in 1963.

It closed at 5:00 a.m. (after an all-night party) on April 3, 1979, and was demolished a few months later. It is now a parking lot.

The site today, view north, August 2019 (via Google Streetview)

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Other sites:

Note: In the film, UNC doubles for the ficticious Willard College For Men, and Fulton (a women's college)

Polk Place (UNC): museum.unc.edu/exhibits/show/architecture/polk-place

Kenan Dorm (UNC): housing.unc.edu/live/explore-the-halls/residence-halls/kenan

South Building (UNC): unchistory.web.unc.edu/prsp-record/south-building

"an old motor court on Old Chapel Hill Road" (unknown)

The Carolina Theater (where the film was locally shown): 108 E. Franklin St.

The Varsity Theater (where the North Carolina premiere was shown/held): 123 E. Franklin St.