Mary Duke Biddle Estate, Historic residence in Forest Hills, Durham, United States

Mary Duke Biddle Estate, also known as Pinecrest, is a Tudor Revival house built in 1927 at 1415 Bivins Street in Durham. The property includes three contributing outbuildings and nine contributing structures, among them The Cottage, a gasoline pump, an iron picket fence with two ornamental gates, two large brick arches, stone-lined grottoes, a bathhouse, tennis court, swimming pool, stone fireplace, pergola, gardener's cottage with attached greenhouse, and storage garage. The main house burned down in July 2023 during a Durham Fire Department training exercise.

Pinecrest was built in 1927 as a Tudor Revival house and was enlarged and renovated between 1935 and 1958. Mary Duke Biddle lived there from 1935 until her death in 1960; Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans and James H. Semans later owned it and gave it to their son James D.B.T. Semans in 1976. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.

Mary Duke Biddle, a member of the Duke family whose fortune came from tobacco and Duke University endowments, lived at Pinecrest from 1935 until her death in 1960. Her daughter Mary Duke Biddle Trent Semans and her husband James H. Semans then owned the house, passing it to their son James D.B.T. Semans in 1976. The 1935–1958 additions and interior renovations mixed Colonial Revival, French Eclectic, Oriental, Art Moderne and Art Deco elements into the 1927 Tudor Revival core.

The main house at 1415 Bivins St. was burned down in July 2023 during a Durham Fire Department training exercise, so there is no interior to tour. The estate is private property in the Forest Hills Historic District; view the iron picket fence, ornamental gates and brick arches from the public street. The site is being cleared for a proposed housing development.

The grounds feature multiple architectural styles including Art Deco and Art Moderne elements added through renovations across different periods. This stylistic variety demonstrates how the estate evolved and adapted to changing design preferences while remaining a private residence.