By: Mary Rae Hunter
The Durham Hotel
Durham is swiftly becoming a chic and lively mini New York, a financial hub City of London, a diplomatic and multicultural Geneva, a business hub Hong Kong, a cool tech, coffee, and dining extravaganza San Francisco—even as she retains her Southern grace, her genuine warmth, and her progressive communitarian spirit. The most recent evidence? The Durham, the bespoke name for the former Home Savings Bank Building located at 313 East Chapel Hill Street.
Plan a business meeting at The Durham, have your out-of-town family or guests stay at The Durham, or indulge an evening at The Durham where one can sip Counter Culture Coffee, dine on a daily Farmer’s Market breakfast, pop into a 24-hour fitness studio, cruise the Internet with high speed Wifi, breathe in the sights with an invigorating roof-top yoga session, attend movie screenings, book readings, relax in the vintage red of the bar surrounded by the great windows—it’s all classy yet natural, elegant yet social, youthfully upscale yet genuine.
Everyone who has visited the Durham area is attracted to her spirit. Now, visitors can thrill at a stay in The Durham in one of 53 guest rooms rooted in midcentury design and platform beds with retro light fixtures, as the NY Times puts it. Stay-overs will discover a minibar stocked with goods made locally, blankets fashioned by Raleigh Denim, Counter Culture Coffees delivered to their room, and lobby newsstand with labels from the local Merge Records.
Local, yet international. International, yet communitarian. Final evidence: Andrea Reusing of Chapel Hill Lantern fame. A James Beard Chef Award winner, Reusing is behind the rooftop lounge and a full-service restaurant. The names for these respectively are simple, uncapitalized, yet fetching: “the roof at The Durham” and “the restaurant at The Durham.” Reusing’s goal, as noted in eater.com, was to create “a multi-use space that invites a sense of community and a sense of ease.” In a word, The Durham is a really cool place “that’s like a community living room.”
See what I mean? The Durham is a place where high finance, tech, culture, and chic meet, even co-thrive, in a community of people really from all over the world sharing and developing their multiple talents, diverse interests, and striving spirits. That’s Durham, and it can now be experienced at The Durham.
