Duke University’s quarry still produces vibrant building stones

It was crystal clear that the first project to be funded by The Duke Endowment in 1924 would be the transformation of Trinity College into Duke University in Durham, N.C.

Founder of the endowment James B. Duke announced: “I want the central building to be a great towering church”…one that…“will dominate all of the surrounding buildings, because such an edifice would be bound to have a profound influence on the spiritual life of the young men and women who come here.”

 

Among the original Duke campus buildings, “the Duke Chapel was planned first and built last,” a university spokesperson said. 

James Duke requested that the best stones coming out of the Duke Stone Quarry in nearby Orange County be reserved for the chapel. “The selection featured 17 shades of colors including deep blues, rich browns, dusty grays and fiery ochres,” said Stephen Schramm, a senior writer at Duke. 

The late Dr. Robert F. Durden, a Duke University history professor, wrote extensively about the Duke family. He said: “James Duke took a special interest in the design of Duke’s Gothic campus.”

 

Dr. Durden

That was apparent even on his deathbed in 1925. Suffering from pernicious anemia, James Duke told his nurse just days before he took his last breath: “Don’t disturb me now; I am laying out the university grounds. I am looking to the future, how they will stand and appear a hundred years from now.” 

“The Duke stones used to build the Duke Chapel are of varying sizes, but much longer than they are tall, giving the walls graceful horizontal lines,” Schramm reported. 

The Rev. Dr. Luke Powery, who is the Dean of Duke University Chapel, said: “To me, every stone represents a human hand. It represents people. A human being had something to do with every single piece of stone.”

 

The chapel’s style is neo-Gothic English. Its architects were from Philadelphia, Pa. – Horace Trumbauer and his chief designer, Julian Abele. (Abele was America’s first African-American architect of renown.) Built between 1930-35, the chapel has wooden pew and chair seating for 1,600 people.

 

Today, about 100 buildings and walls across the university campus and within the Duke University Health System feature Duke stone. The famed quarry, which straddles the Eno River just west of Hillsborough, is still producing. 

Schramm said the quarry sits on the eastern edge of the “Carolina Slate Belt,” which runs north-south through the North Carolina Piedmont. “The quarry’s stone was formed by the flows of ancient volcanic activity. Over time, consolidation and metamorphism led to the rock taking on characteristics of slate, leaving it streaked with irregular seams. This means the stone has the combination of being both strong and unpredictably brittle.” 

Cleve Wagstaff, who owns a stone masonry business in Roxboro, is a Duke stone expert. Wagstaff’s company has been involved in Duke building projects for more than 40 years.

“It’s not a very friendly stone to work with,” he said. “Most stone masons shy away from it. But with the shades of blues and browns, it’s just a beautiful stone. It’s not like much of anything else you’ll see in North Carolina.” 

The staff at the Duke Facilities Management Department “are still struck by the magic of Duke stone,” Schramm commented. “When the sun hits the chapel tower in the late afternoon, at certain times of the year, the stone turns gold,” one architect said. “Sometimes you forget how beautiful this place is.”