Guest blog post and photos by Duke’s David Jarmul

(Photo: Open Durham website)

Can you identify this black-and-white photo?

Three Duke University employees spotted it quickly as the current home of Rue Cler restaurant. Duke’s Keith Lawrence is shown here taking a photo of colleagues Eric Ferreri and Stuart Wells in front of the red brick structure at 401 E. Chapel Hill St., which was built in the 1920s.

The three of them, along with colleagues from Duke’s Office of News and Communications, were playing a new game that offers local businesses and community groups an opportunity to combine team-building with an exploration of Durham’s rich architectural history.

Here’s another of the four Duke teams that traversed downtown Durham playing “Find That Building!”

And here’s another team, planning its search through the heart of downtown Durham.

Each team received its own booklet with historic photos of six buildings. The teams then set off to find the buildings, some of which have changed considerably in appearance while retaining key structural features.

The “blue team,” posing here with Museum of Durham History executive director Katie Spencer, center, was the first to find all six of its buildings and return to the museum, in just under one hour. The other three teams soon followed, cheering each other’s success before sitting down to an informal catered dinner at the museum.

Duke’s Office of News and Communications created the game and has donated it to the museum to use with other local groups as a fund-raising activity.

“We’re excited to offer this game to local organizations, which can have fun learning about Durham’s history and our work at the History Hub,” Spencer said. “Everyone who played the game said it made them look at downtown Durham with new eyes, paying closer attention to buildings they may have seen dozens of times. They also said it was fun to divide into groups and have a friendly competition with their colleagues.”

If your business, church, community organization or other organization would like to play “Find That Building!” as a way to build team spirit while supporting the museum, please contact Katie at kspencer [at] museumofdurhamhistory [dot] com.

(guest blog and color photos by Duke’s David Jarmul)