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12 <br />NP5 Form 10-900-a OMB No. 1024-0018 <br />(8-86) , <br />United States Department of the interior <br />Na#ional Park Service <br />NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES <br />CONTINUATION SHEET <br />Section 7 ~ Page 1 Murphey School <br />name of property <br />Orange County. NC~ <br />county and state <br />Materials (cont.): <br />Foundation stone <br />7. Narrative ©escription: <br />Located on tike southwest corner of the intersection of Old NC 10 and Murphy School Raad in the <br />Chapel Hill Township in rural Orange County, Murphey School occupies a roughly~7.03 acre <br />parcel near the Durham County fine. The property has a Durham mailing address but it is in the <br />Hillsborough vicinity, standing approximately 6.7 miles from that town. Old NC 10 is a lightly <br />traveled corridor connecting Durham and Hillsborough. The one-story, brick rectangular main <br />building was designed by Henri C. Linthicum of the architectural firm Lin#hicum and Linthicum. The <br />building is joined at a right angle to a rectangular auditorium addition and sits in its original <br />location far back from and facing Ofd NC 10 with a generous flat grass-covered lot in front and to <br />the west of the properly. To the north of the property across Old NC 10 are a handful of <br />residences and a few exist to~the southeast behind the property and across Murphy School Road. <br />To the south of the school but on the same parcel sits a well house, water tower, maintenance <br />trailer and frame bungalow that served as a teacherage. Pieces of original playground equipment <br />also dot the south portion of the lot, providing yet another link #o its past days as an operating <br />elementary school. A gravel drive at the east of the lot serves as the primary access route to the <br />property, secured from the street by a metal gate. It runs through the school yard to the south and <br />around the front of the teacherage to the west. A second metal gated entrance is located to the <br />northeast of the school, and a gravel drive runs parallel #o the east elevation of the property and <br />then merges with the primary entrance. In the front school yard a large oak tree shades the lawn <br />and a handful of oak trees are located to the rear (south) and east-of the school. Trees also fine <br />the southern and western boundaries ofi the parcel. A border of low stone waits, now deteriorating, <br />encapsulates the school complex property, running along the east and north of the lot. The <br />physical surroundings of the property are generally rural and wooded in nature, with the Norfolk <br />Southern railroad running approximately 750 feet to the north of the property and Old NC 10. <br />Sometime after 1960, the "e" in Murphey was dropped so that the~schoo{ was commonly referred <br />to as the "Murphy School.° Thus, the spelling of "Murphy School Road" differs from the historic <br />name. <br />Murphey School <br />1923, 7936, Contributing Building <br />Exterior of Main Building: . <br />With Spanish Rev'rvaN and Classical Revival-style elements, Murphey Schaol is swell-preserved <br />brick consolidated school built in 1923 with an auditorium added in 193fi to the west of the school <br />