Maple Avenue at intersection of Wallingford Road, west side

Sitting on a small rectangular lot at the corner of Maple Avenue and Wallingford Road, the Bates-Blatchley house is surrounded by an assortment of eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth-century dwelling houses.

• Record ID: 138
• Address: Maple Avenue at intersection of Wallingford Road, west side
• Current Owner: Crawford, Leon J. and Bella M.
• Name of Building:
• Historic Name: Joel Blatchley House
• Download PDF of Original Record

Notable Features

The facade,which faces south towards Wallingford Road, is concealed by a single story, enclosed hip-roofed sun porch displaying four-over-one sash. A simple unadorned entrance door is located on the eastern elevation of the sun porch. Slight cornice returns are exhibited in the gable ends. The main block displays original twelve-over-twelve sash on the first floor and six-over-nine sash on the second floor. A gable-roofed dormer with six-over-six sash, featured on the eastern elevation. Two small sheds and a two-bay, gable-to-street garage stand to the northwest of the house.

Historical or Architectural Importance

Early land records concerning this house are obscure. We do know that the house was not standing in 1827 when Col. James Wadsworth drew his map of Durham and that it had been erected by 1833 when Joel Blatchley purchased a twenty-one-acre lot with buildings, called “Honeypot,” from Daniel Bates. Daniel Bates (b. 1770 ) was one of Durham’s wealthiest men, owning large amounts of land in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In 1833 Joel Blatchley, a native of Guilford, purchased the “Honeypot” for $1800. Blatchley for many years operated the gristmill on Mill Pond in the center of town. In 1825 Blatchley married Margery Robinson, and upon her death in 1839 married Harriet Hull (1799-1867).Betsey Hull and Ruth Blatchley, Joel’s heirs, sold “Honeypot” to Albert Griswold in 1855.
In 1865 Henry Harrison Church (1844-1908), a native of Colchester and a mechanic/tinner, purchased the house. Here he and his wife Martha (Leete) raised their six children: Henry L., Frederick A., James, Charles H., Rosa M., and Algah. Frederick, the second eldest son, sold the property out of the family in 1908.
Architecturally similar to other early nineteenth-century Domestic-style structures in the immediate area (Elias Camp House and Andrew Robinson House), the Bates-Blatchley house is noteworthy for its association with prominent citizens: Daniel Bates and Joel Blatchley