WILLIAM VAN EATON SPRINKLE (1906-1965)

William Van Eaton Sprinkle was a native of Mocksville NC, the son of a Methodist minister. After earning his undergraduate degree at Duke University, he completed an architectural course at Yale University in 1928. For two years he worked without pay in a New York architectural firm, painting watercolors to earn his keep. In 1930 he returned to Durham to work for architect Howard Haines, gaining experience in residential design and church facilities. Sprinkle opened his own office in 1934 and completed a number of commissions for Duke University. Among them were four rustic log cabins in the woods for the law school dean, who was convinced the best way for students to learn law and social responsibility was as Abraham Lincoln had done, in a quiet and simple setting. Completed in 1938, the complex was described by Time magazine as “an architectural, if not intellectual, wonder for U.S. higher education.”

From 1934 to 1941 Sprinkle designed many fine residences for local professionals. He served in the Army during World War II, designing and planning construction of prefabricated harbors for invasions of Europe. After the war he returned to Durham. In 1950 he hired Doris Stanley, who took over the firm when Sprinkle died in 1965.

DORIS STANLEY (1926-)

Doris Stanley, a native of Farmington ME, and graduate of the University of Maine in Orono (1948), majored in psychology but took drafting classes for fun. She worked two years in newspaper advertising for the Bangor Daily Commercial before coming to Durham in 1950 with a southern friend who was attending graduate school. When the Durham employment office asked about her skills, she mentioned drafting and was told an architect was looking for help, so she took the job with Sprinkle. “The first day I put paper to pencil, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” she told interviewers Lynn Richardson and Frank DePasquale in 2007.  Sprinkle did his initial drawings at 1/8” scale, then handed them over to Stanley to recreate at ¼”. She was the only female draftsman practicing in North Carolina until 1952 when Lib Lee graduated from the NCSU School of Design. Stanley retired in 1989.

1958 - The George J. (Eric) and Sarah Hartman Baylin House, 2535 Wrightwood, Durham.  Sold in 1989 to current owners Charles and Russell Colver.  Photo by Heather Wagner.

1958 - The Knut Schmidt-Nielsen and Bodil Krogh Schmidt-Nielsen Residence, 2524 Wrightwood, Durham.  Sold in 1964 to current owner Annette G. Kirshner.  Photo by Heather Wagner.

1960 - The Charles and Kathryn Bream Residence, 3 Buttons Road, Chapel Hill. 
Built for current owner.  Photos by Dave Potter.

1961 - 2531 Sevier, Durham.  Sold to George D. and Susan Beischer.  Sold in 1983 to John and Lynne Geweke.  Sold to William H. and Lisa D. Schlesinger in 1990.  Sold to current owners Molly Jennifer Tamarkin and Sean Andrew McKnight in 2001.

1965 - The Gordon H. and Beryl Massey Rosser Residence, 12 Chantilly Place, Durham.  Sold to Patrick Maze and Deborah Doerr in 1989.  Sold to Wei Chin Fang in 1990.  Sold to Debra A. and Michael L. Conway in 1992.  Sold to current owners John and Tanyss Ward in 1995.   

1965 - The Knut Schmidt-Nielsen and Astrid Claesson Residence, 627 Swift Avenue (also known as 1622 Duke University Road), Durham.  Built for current owners.

1970 - The John Boynton Residence, 1808 Woodburn Road, Durham.  2031 square feet.  Designed by Doris Stanley and built by Charles Parker.  She also did a 1983 garage conversion.  Sold to Mark J. Solomon.  Sold in 2009 to current owners Bruce Orenstein and Nancy MacLean.