East Campus Wall gets two access points; creates greater connectivity to Ninth Street

Since the very beginning the relationship between Duke University and Durham has been a complex one, mostly friendly, but sometimes fraught with disagreement and, particularly in the late 80's and early 90's, strained by Durham's rising crime rate. I have often heard long-term residents joke that stone wall ("the Wall") that runs along the perimeter of the East Campus is the physical manifestation of Duke's reluctance to engage with a wider Durham community, and that the University was literally trying to wall itself from the city and regretted not making the wall a bit taller

Photo by Bryan Roth.

This new entrance to East Campus was constructed by the Buchanan Boulevard-Main Street intersection. Duke is adding two entrances for pedestrian traffic. Photo by Bryan Roth.

But this was all in the past. Since early 00's, Duke has emerged as the principal force behind the wholesale reinvention of Durham as a vibrant, diverse, and tolerant place to live and work. And nowhere is this relationship obvious than the widespread popularity of the East Campus Walk,  the 1.5 mile gravel pathway circling the Wall, which has become a magnet for joggers, strollers and walkers. Far from walling itself from the community, Duke's wall and the pathway that runs alongside of it, morphed into a public space.

Until relatively recently, however,  the access to the walkway was constrained by the lack of pedestrian access from Broad and Main streets. The University recently changed that when, taking advantage of the Water Main repair work on Main Street, it added two additional entrances  -- the first changes to the wall in over 30 years -- one at the intersection of Main and Broad Streets, and the other on Main and Buchanan Street. In addition to the existing entrance off Broad and Perry Streets, the West side of the East Campus is far better integrated into the Ninth Street  Shopping District.

While this is indisputably a very positive development, Duke and the City have additional work to do before the East Campus can be said to be truly integrated into its surrounding communities. The most obvious and lacking issue is the lack of sidewalks on the outside of the wall across large portions of Board Street, the entire length of W. Markham Avenue. The need to have such a sidewalk is obvious, as evidenced by a clear walking trail created by students and residents, as they navigate mud, grass, roots, stones and other obstacles.Here is to hoping that it will take Duke less than 30 years to recognize this need and build such a sidewalk.

Read the Duke Today article about the new enterances after the break.

June 25, 2012 | Bryan Roth

Did You Know?

The East Campus wall was built in 1916 with a gift from Benjamin Duke. His brother, James B. Duke, requested the wall be 36-inches tall and 10 feet from the curb. There is no wall for a stretch across from Whole Foods, because before West Campus was built in the 1920s, the Duke (then Trinity College) football team played home games on East Campus. A red brick wall with several ticket windows facing Broad Street stood where trees now grow.

Durham, NC - For the first time in decades, adjustments are being made to the wall around East Campus, allowing for convenient access to the popular walking trail.
Two entrances are being created along the wall - one at Main Street and Buchanan Boulevard, which recently completed, and the other at Main and Broad streets. Both entrances maintain stonework aesthetics familiar across Duke's campuses.

"The new openings will make it easy for people who work in Smith to use the East Campus trail at lunch or after work and also provides a clear access point for students on East who want to go downtown on Main Street," said Mark Hough, campus landscape architect in the Office of the University Architect, "The Broad Street entrance will generally improve connectivity between East Campus and the Ninth Street area. More specifically, it will make the Bull City Connector stop at Broad and Main more accessible for students and employees."

Construction by the City of Durham on water lines along Main Street prompted Duke to make adjustments to the wall. The entrances were created after the city asked Duke about redirecting pedestrian traffic from Main Street to the East Campus trail because the sidewalk along Main Street is blocked off during road work that is expected to continue until September.

Hough said the idea to build entrances first came up in 2010 as part of the Office of the University Architect's biannual action plan. The city's construction efforts along Main Street provided the opportunity to follow through. Aside from occasional masonry work to repair the wall when it has been struck by vehicles, Hough estimated these are the first alternations along the wall since the 1980s, when a separated portion of brick wall was taken down and a hedge of cypress trees were planted on Broad Street.

"As a Duke employee who lives in the neighborhood and frequently runs on the trail around the wall, I would say that the project gives me particular satisfaction because it enhances the relationship and connectivity between East Campus and the surrounding Durham community," Hough said.