Hill Building, Art Deco skyscraper in Durham, United States
The Hill Building is an Art Deco tower in downtown Durham, North Carolina, standing 17 stories tall at the corner of Main and Corcoran Streets. Built from stone, it features the stepped, ziggurat-style upper floors typical of the style, giving it a silhouette that stands out along the street.
The building was completed in 1937 by the architects Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, who designed it as the headquarters of the Durham Bank & Trust Company. Decades later it was converted into a hotel with an art museum, giving it a new life while keeping its original shell.
The building houses a contemporary art museum with rotating exhibitions of paintings, sculptures, and installations spread across several gallery spaces. Admission to the museum is free, making it an open door for anyone passing through downtown Durham.
The art museum on the lower floors is free to enter and open to anyone who wants to walk in from the street. The hotel occupies the upper floors, which are only accessible to guests with a reservation.
The same architectural firm that designed this tower, Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, also designed the Empire State Building in New York, completed just a few years before. That connection explains the resemblance in the stepped upper floors shared by both buildings.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
