I first canvassed the American Tobacco Historic District on April 24, 2003. Immediately I was in awe of the scope of the campus, the wide range of architectural styles dating back to 1874, the towering chimney for the power plant and the water tower which resembled so many water tanks that served small communities all across America in the early 20th century.

With an array of cameras in hand, I trekked from the extreme north end of the campus bordering Pettigrew Street where the Bull and Hill Buildings are located all the way south to the Fowler Building adjacent to the Durham Freeway. Looking back on that first day, I recall vividly talking with a crew that was scaling the east walls of Fowler to remove huge sheets of brown acrylic that covered all the windows.

It was an arduous and perilous task to pry away these window coverings and safely lower them to the sidewalk along Blackwell Street. It was hard to visualize at that time how the architects would utilize new window dressings for the façade of one of the largest buildings on the campus.

On older buildings, such as Washington, Reed and the famous Lucky Strike Building, original windows had not been covered with sheets of brown acrylic, but had instead been bricked over. It was obvious that at some time, the American Tobacco Company had decided that their production was hampered by windows.

Now, asked what has been one of the greatest changes to take place in the few short months since I first trekked across these sixteen acres of buildings, the answer comes easily.

Windows have been opened.

In the older buildings where bricks once blocked the outside light, sledge hammers and air powered jack hammers have chiseled out the openings to the outside. Most dramatically, Fowler has new thermo-panes in every single original window frame on all floors.

It is easy to use the cliché` "window of opportunity" to describe what the reconstruction of this campus means to Downtown Durham. But the dramatic changes made by the opening of these windows means more.

The opening and refurbishing of these original windows will be one of the most significant architectural feats in enhancing the lives of those who live, work and play in the newly restored American Tobacco Historic District.

Daylight entering from the outside will be as significant for this area as bright lights at night projecting outward on an area of Durham that is ready to live again.