Description:
A Durham native, Eugene's interest in real estate was sparked back in the 1970s when he moved to Washington, D.C. and purchased his first home, a 1910 row house on Capitol Hill. Eugene met his wife, Signe, while both of them were working for the youngest Senator with the least seniority from the smallest state in the union… Joe Biden. They were married in 1975 and moved to Denver, Colorado, where Eugene served as Director of Communications for the National Conference of State Legislatures. There, the Browns bought and restored yet another 1910 home on Denver's Capitol Hill. The Browns moved to Durham in 1980, where they saw a niche in the market for selling older homes of character in established neighborhoods. They decided to open their own real estate firm, Distinctive Properties, in the fall of 1980, choosing as their logo the ionic column that adorns their 1906 Trinity Park home. For 30 years, the Browns have lived in the 100-year-old John Spencer Bassett home in Trinity Park, across from Duke's East Campus. Their home, which is on the Durham Historic Register, was recently profiled in the December 2011 issue of Durham Magazine. Eugene is a member of First Presbyterian Church and Signe is a parishioner at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. Signe, an attorney, is a third-grade teacher at Forest View Elementary School. Eugene's hobbies include reading, (especially history), gardening, world travel and photography. He also enjoys working with his numerous koi fish ponds. His love of photography has been life-long, starting with a $15 Kodak Brownie he purchased while in elementary school. For eight summers, while in college and graduate school, he served as a naturalist and river guide on the Snake River in the Grand Teton National Park where he furthered his photogenic skills with the expansive and scenic beauty of Wyoming. He and Signe have traveled to Russia, the Baltic's, Europe, Japan, London, and the Caribbean, all of which provided him with a diversity of photographic subjects. Indeed, a current exhibit of his photographs can be viewed at Durham City Hall.