Greystone is rich in Durham history.  Built for James Edward Stagg and Mary Washington Lyon Stagg -- both descendants of the philanthropic Duke family-- Greystone is the last standing private residence in Durham Built by Duke Descendants.. The Staggs began building their home in 1904. The dressed limestone and pressed yellow brick  you see at Greystone Inn, Duke Memorial United Methodist Church also in Durham, and the East Campus of Duke University all come from the Greystone Rock Quarry owned by Mr. Stagg in Vance county. Thus his naming of his home which was completed in the year 1910 in time to host a Holiday tea honoring the coronation of Duke University President, William P. Few.

James Stagg was the nephew of Doctor Bartlett Durham, after whom our city was named, and the great nephew of Washington Duke. Mary Lyon Stagg was Washington Duke's granddaughter. Stagg served as private secretary to his cousin Benjamin N. Duke and the two were good friends.  An officer of the Durham-Southern Railway, the Erwin and Pearl cotton mills, the Fidelity Bank and the Union Station Company, the two cousins built their new mansions during the prosperous time of Durham's Tobacco success.  While Greystone was completed in 1910 and Four Acres, the home of Benjamin Duke, was completed in        , it was much larger than Greystone. The razing of many old Durham Mansions during our period of urban renewal in the 1960's caused Greystone to become large simply by virtue of survival.

Charlotte architect  Charles C.. Hook designed Greystone in the Chateauesque-style. The furnishings were commissioned from Irving & Casson. The same master carpenters who made the ornamentations of Duke Chapel, created the Georgian Revival woodwork of the Greystone interior. The woodwork is executed in Tiger Oak, Italian Walnut and Mahogany and was painstakingly restored in 1998, features denticulated cornices, egg and dart molding and doorways framed by fluted pilasters. Even the front veranda scuppers were maintained during extensive renovations by new owners Leslie and Randy Brame.

Greystone Inn is on the National Historic Registry.  As happened so often in those times, only five years after the house was completed, Mr. Stagg became ill during a trip to New York with his cousin, Benjamin Duke and did not survive.  After his death in 1915,  Mrs. Stagg remained in the house and raised her three children, James E. Stagg, Jr., Elizabeth Stagg, and Mary Stagg.  After her brother, James Stagg, Jr., died in a car accident,  Mary, the youngest daughter of the Staggs, had already married Sterling Nicholson and was expecting her first son, Sterling Jr.  Mary and Sterling moved into Greystone to help her mother grieve and remained, raising their children, Sterling, Jr., Henry, Stagg, and, Elizabeth in the home.

In 1945 Mrs. Stagg died leaving Greystone to her daughter, Mary Stagg Nicholson.  In 1961, Mrs. Nicholson's children divided the furniture, fixtures and other appointments of the home and split the house into eight apartments. The split allowed them to preserve the main structure of the house and their family ownership of the home until it was purchased in 1998 by Randy and Leslie Brame.  Renovations began immediately to restore the house to it's original splendor.  Those renovations included stripping both Mahogany and Tiger Oak that had been painted over, removing added walls, kitchens, and bathrooms and putting the interior of the home back as it was in it's heyday.  Purchasing antiques of the period with the help of David Lindquist, of White Hall Antiques in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, quickly followed and the Brames had successfully created the graciousness of the era on the first floor and completed phase one of the renovations. While the main floor was used for special events and meetings, tenants remained in the second floor apartments . As the upstairs leases expired, renovations began on the second floor.

Second floor renovations completed in 2003, phase two of the renovation, transformed Greystone into what is now a very special Inn in Durham, North Carolina.  Originally situated on a 3.05 acre lot, The Brames purchased and cleared the additional property creating the nearly 6 acres that Greystone now sits on. For additional information on the accommodations, meetings, and events offered by Greystone go back to the home page and click on the Inn. You may also contact LeslieBrame@GreystoneInn.info, or 919-688-1227.