Mangum’s daughters Bessie and Inez lived in the house until 1956 when, at advanced ages, they were moved to a nursing home. It is said that the ghost of one of the sisters still haunts an upstairs room. The property was then sold at auction and rented for residential purposes until the early 1960’s. From 1960 to 1963, Arthur D. Thomas, who operated a politically ‘alternative’ bookstore in town, used the first floor for a racially integrated, non-denominational church that counted Duke University faculty and area civil rights leaders among its congregants. After Thomas left the area, the house was named ‘Freedom House’ and rented for a time by a civil rights organization. It was used as temporary housing for transient civil rights activists. From 1968 to 1974 the house was operated as a woman’s consignment clothing store called ‘Victoria’s Closet’.
The house was first used as a restaurant in 1976. Nina Parrish, a Durham native, operated the Old House Restaurant until 1980. From 1981 to 1982 a Chinese restaurant called The Twin Dragon occupied the house. In 1983, the Pless family bought the building and operated it as Claire’s Café until the early 1990’s. The family then leased the building for a number of years before deciding to sell the property in 1999.
When husband and wife owners Shane Ingram and Elizabeth Woodhouse purchased the property in August of 1999, they found the building had retained much of its original architectural integrity. Each of the eight rooms in the house contains its original coal-burning fireplace, complete with unique tile, carved wood and mirrored mantelpiece. Other features include high ceilings, elaborate woodwork, original pocket doors as well as beautiful leaded and stained glass windows. The original carved walnut staircase leads to the upstairs dining rooms where beautiful heart pine flooring was found underneath the existing carpeting and subsequently refinished to a beautiful wood glow.
Four Square Restaurant opened its doors in October 1999. The name refers to the style of architecture typical of the latter part of the Victorian era. The house is built in a symmetrical style (contrary to earlier in the period) with a central hallway and four main rooms on each floor, one in each corner. The owners chose to call the restaurant Four Square to reflect the classic balance and lack of pretense they embrace as their business philosophy.
The house was first used as a restaurant in 1976. Nina Parrish, a Durham native, operated the Old House Restaurant until 1980. From 1981 to 1982 a Chinese restaurant called The Twin Dragon occupied the house. In 1983, the Pless family bought the building and operated it as Claire’s Café until the early 1990’s. The family then leased the building for a number of years before deciding to sell the property in 1999.
When husband and wife owners Shane Ingram and Elizabeth Woodhouse purchased the property in August of 1999, they found the building had retained much of its original architectural integrity. Each of the eight rooms in the house contains its original coal-burning fireplace, complete with unique tile, carved wood and mirrored mantelpiece. Other features include high ceilings, elaborate woodwork, original pocket doors as well as beautiful leaded and stained glass windows. The original carved walnut staircase leads to the upstairs dining rooms where beautiful heart pine flooring was found underneath the existing carpeting and subsequently refinished to a beautiful wood glow.
Four Square Restaurant opened its doors in October 1999. The name refers to the style of architecture typical of the latter part of the Victorian era. The house is built in a symmetrical style (contrary to earlier in the period) with a central hallway and four main rooms on each floor, one in each corner. The owners chose to call the restaurant Four Square to reflect the classic balance and lack of pretense they embrace as their business philosophy.
