Greystone Manor is an abandoned mansion located at 618 Vickers Ave, Durham. Greystone Manor was built in 1911 for James Edward Stagg, a wealthy and prominent Durham citizen. From 1893 until 1895 Stagg was private secretary to his cousin Benjamin Duke of the American Tobacco Company fame. In 1895 Stagg became involved with the Durham and Southern Railway, serving as vice-president and general manager.
Greystone Manor was designed by architect Charles Christian Hook. It is a 2+1⁄2-story, six bay, Châteauesque style granite, limestone, and brick dwelling. It features a deep porch with porte cochere, projecting bays with conical roofs, tall chimney stacks, and a high hipped roof with numerous dormers and heavy yellow-green clay tiles.
Mrs. Stagg lived in Greystone with her children until 1945. Stagg’s daughter Mary Stagg Nicholson lived in the house until 1961, when it was converted into apartments and offices. For some reason, this type of adaptive reuse simply did not seem to be a priority for the city or the residents of Durham. Fortunately, it worked to preserve the house in this particular case.
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The Greystone Manor was restored in 1998 by the Brame family into a reception hall and inn. They also own most of the remainder of this block, which is sadly empty.
