Triangle Modernist Houses

Compiled by George Smart, Jr.                                                          

THOMAS YANCEY MILBURN (1890-1977)

Thomas Yancey Milburn was born on April 10, 1890 in Frankfort, Kentucky. He was the son of Frank P. and Leonora (Little) Milburn, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. His father was also an architect, and had been born in Bowling Green, Kentucky. After graduating from the University of Arkansas, he worked along with his father, a contractor. Thomas Milburn’s father opened architectural offices in Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina. His work led to being appointed Architect for the Southern Railway, which led to the family being relocated to Washington DC, in 1908.

Thomas Milburn received his early school training in the public schools of Washington, and prepared for college at the Phillips Andover Academy. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of North Carolina in 1914. Afterwards, he attended architectural courses at the University of Pennsylvania before joining his father in business in Washington.  

There the partnership registered as Milburn and Heister, with Frank Milburn becoming president, Michael Heister as vice-president, and George F. Keppler as secretary and treasurer. They maintained offices in the Hill Building. Thomas Y. Milburn joined the firm in 1914 and later served in WWI.   

Milburn came to Durham to supervise local projects (such as the Carolina Theatre, Durham County Courthouse, and Union Station) for Milburn & Heister.  He became quite taken with the area (largely due to falling in love with the daughter of an American Tobacco executive, see below).  In 1920 he wed Mary J. O’Brien.

They had one daughter named Mary Jo, born February 14, 1927, the year after they had moved into 3419 Lowell Street NW in Washington DC, a building he had designed himself. The family would remain at the address until 1948.  In 1925, Thomas Milburn became the firm’s president and treasurer when his father resigned from the position of chief executive to the chairman of the board of directors. The year following this reorganization, Frank P. Milburn died in September of 1926.

Throughout his life, Thomas Milburn was associated with the Free and Accepted Masons, Scottish Rite, and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was also a member of the Columbia Country Club, Hope Valley Country Club, the Chevy Chase Country Club, and the Racquet Club.

In 1950, he moved to Durham full-time and designed and built a modernist house at 1028 Sycamore Street.  This two-story hip-roof house had a brick first floor, vertical wood siding on the upper story, and a center 3-bay recessed porch.   No photo.  Do you have one?

Milburn worked hard to attract new industry to Durham and was instrumental in putting together Research Triangle Park with Governor Luther Hodges.  He retired in 1962.