And she's buying a stairway......

I'm on the 3rd floor with my back to Main Street. The stairs lead up to the roof deck (notice the light on the wall at the top of photo).

I like the stairs more everyday. And I've always liked them so that's saying a bunch. The risers are a steel beam and the treads are wood. These treads are temporary; the permanent treads are made of reclaimed wood from floor and ceiling joist.

Notice a couple of details that I hope the Historic folks let me keep. The bricked in door behind the stairs used to lead to the building next door. I love it. It was bricked in with less than perfect masonry work, giving it a very authentic look. I hope I can leave it as it is. The other detail is the writing on the wall that you can just see at the top right hand corner of the photo (black and white block lettering). This is advertisement of W. R. Murray and Sons music store that was in the building next door that I wrote of the "murder mystery". I definitely don't want to cover that up.

The Mystery of the History

"W. R. Murray, a powerful man, closed in on his assailant, and taking a revolver shot him, inflicting a wound that caused death...".

My building uses what is called "shared walls", meaning the exterior wall of the building next door becomes the interior wall in my space. In my case, plaster was put over the brick to create clean walls for my building's occupants.

On the third floor of my place, above the rafters, you can see what appears to be an advertisement that had been painted on the wall of the building next door (306 west main) when it was an exterior wall. You can make out "W. R. Murray and Co." at the top with wording underneath that is mostly covered by plaster and framing, making it difficult to decipher.

A quick online search today reveals _W.R. Murray and Co._ was a music store in town. With that clue, I think the letters from left to right near the plaster appear like PIANO. Another search of the NY Times archives reveals that a W.R. Murray, who owned a music store in Durham, was involved in an incident where he killed his uncle with a revolver over a business dispute. If this turns out to be true, uncovering the plaster on my walls might be uncovering a bit of Durham history.

For now, time wasted as I still don't know about my building's history.....

Hercule Poirot out.