2604 McDowell Road

1962, modified 1966

Walter Obrist

Preservation Durham

Walter Obrist was, like the Crovitzes, a professor at Duke University’s Department of Psychology. In fact, he was Elaine Crovitz’s dissertation advisor while she was earning her PhD. Many Duke professors of the period built in Duke Forest in the Modernist style on land cheaply available to the university’s faculty. It was a close community, and they knew each other’s homes.

Obrist takes credit for the design of his house, built in 1962 and enlarged in 1966 with a family room at the rear. The façade looks unremarkable, but the interior charms. Banks of windows in high-ceilinged spaces show the wooded parcel. Light spills throughout the dwelling, thanks to an open plan and exposed beams that obviate walls.

Likewise, the corner hearth can cast a glow throughout. Sunken rooms help define the public living areas. The main floor also holds private living quarters: three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The basement has two additional bedrooms. Like at least one other 1960s-era dwelling in the neighborhood, the Obrist House also has a bomb shelter. The concrete-block room is accessible from the partially exposed basement.

The house suffered from minimal maintenance for several years, when it was rented to college students. It is owner-occupied once again, and the buyers repaired damage, updated kitchen and bathroom finishes, refinished the basement floor, and removed paneling from the family room before moving in last March.