| William Thomas O'Brien House | |
| Location: | 820 Wilkerson Ave. Durham, North Carolina |
| Coordinates: | 36.0017°N -78.9153°W |
| Built: | c. |
| Architecture: | Gothic, Vernacular Victorian |
| Added: | August 9, 1985 |
| Area: | less than one acre |
| Refnum: | 85001777 |
William Thomas O'Brien House is a historic home in Durham, Durham County, North Carolina. It was built about 1890, and is a two-story, Gothic Revival style frame dwelling. It has a center hall plan and features a one-story wraparound porch, an original embossed tin shingle roof, and projecting bays. It was the home of William Thomas O'Brien, who perfected the Bonsack machine for the W. Duke Sons & Company.[1] The house originally sat on a large tract of land that extended to Rome Street. The property included a servants' house, a smokehouse, and a chicken coop.
The house, located down the street from Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and Immaculata Catholic School, played a significant role in Durham's Catholic community.[2] O'Brien, who was Catholic, invited a priest to perform masses in the home until Immaculate Conception was constructed in 1906 on West Chapel Hill Street, on land that O'Brien deeded to the Church.[2] After O'Brien's death in 1907, his wife moved to South Duke Street. In 1919, a carpenter and interior decorator named Edward J. Long lived in the house.[2]
Located in the Burch Avenue Historic District, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.