31 Main Street

This residence stands on a tree-shaded one and a half acre lot. Just south is Ackerman’s Store, with which it has been historically associated.

  • Record ID: 116
  • Address: 31 Main Street
  • Current Owner: Ackerman, Jr., Austin
  • Name of Building: Austin Ackerman House
  • Historic Name: Henry David House
  • Download PDF of Original Record

Notable Features

Stick style wrap-around porch with turned columns, sawn brackets3Ild spindles.

Historical or Architectural Importance

The Ackerman-Davis House is a 2 story, side-hall entry, domestic vernacular structure with Eastlake ornamentation. The main block is a 2 story gable roofed structure with the gable end
facing the street. An open, wrap-around porch on the east and south sides is supported by turned columns and sawn brackets. The columns are joined by spandrels with turned spindle:
and a stick-style balustrade. The front door, a turn of the century replacement, is wood panelled with a large plate glass pane in its upper section. The windows in the main block are two-over-two, double hung sash. The house has had two major additions. The first is a two story shed roofed 12′ x 12′ addition to the south side. This appears to date from the turn of the century. ‘Ihe seoond is a one story shed roof addition to the northwest corner. It measures 15 ‘x19′ and appears from its concrete foundation to date from the twentieth century.
There is a rear entry with an open and enclosed porch to the rear of the south side addition. This house was built for Henry Davis, proprietor of Davis’ Store on land purchased from William
H. Canfield in 1877. It was built between 1877 and 1881. Davis, long-time Durham storekeeper and sometime postmaster, sold the house to Austin M. Ackerman in 1927. It remains in the Ackerman family. This house is a fine example of late nineteenth-century domestic architecture. Its well-preserved Eastlake-style porch is especially notable. Its historical significance
derives fomn its association with Henry Davis and the Ackermans, leaders of Durham’s commercial life in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.