Coor-Gaston House

Built in 1774, for the unmarried James Coor (1737-1795), a Naval Architect from England who became a Member of the North Carolina State Senate. Three years before his death, he gifted the house to his niece, Sarah Groenendyke (who later married Benjamin Woods). In 1818, the Woods' sold the house to Judge William J. Gaston (1778-1844) who lived here with his third wife and their children. After his death, the house passed through several hands until the Civil War when it served as one of the annexes of the Foster General Hospital for wounded soldiers which then occupied the entire block. It remained a residential home before coming into the possession of the Raleigh Diocese of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1971, the wing of the L-shaped house was converted into apartments and the main body restored as a residence-museum.