What’s different is the change that it and other newly built houses are making in the neighborhood.

"Our street has turned into a ghost town at night, and I like it," said Aaron Shah, who bought one of the cottages designed by Orange Community Housing and Land Trust.

The houses are part of an initiative to deter crime and to revive homeownership in the historically black neighborhood.

As Northside residents have aged, their houses increasingly have turned into rental property, housing UNC students largely and decreasing the number of houses affordable to families with moderate incomes.

"But the thing I think that is most distressing for homeowners there is the crime problem that was sort of centered on the western edge of this neighborhood," said Ann Griffin, construction manager for the Land Trust. "As the housing stock was deteriorating, it was attracting some unsavory characters."

Chapel Hill officials had been looking for a way to address the problem when Griffin suggested buying and redeveloping some properties in the area.

"In my opinion, when you have a neighborhood that’s in decline, the best way to address it is to put some families — some young families — into the neighborhood," she said.

"Families tend to create bonds in a neighborhood of neighborliness, of watching out for each other, of keeping a neighborhood looking loved. I think all of those are problems for criminals who are looking for a place where people won’t notice them."

Getting families into homes is what the Land Trust does. The nonprofit agency works with first-time homebuyers who earn less than 80 percent of the area median income. (The median income for a family of four in the Orange-Durham County area is $61,700.)

The trust is able to sell houses at a lower cost by retaining the rights to the land that the houses sit on. When the owners of those houses decide to sell, they must sell back to the Land Trust ensuring that the houses remain affordable for others.

To help reclaim Northside, the Land Trust bought four lots near the intersection of Sykes and Nunn streets, an area that the town had identified as most problematic.

Empowerment — another nonprofit agency that serves people with moderate incomes — bought four other properties on Sykes and North Graham streets that it placed in the Land Trust. And Orange County Habitat for Humanity joined the initiative by helping to build some of the houses.

To ensure that the four properties designed by the Land Trust would fit in with Northside’s architecture, Griffin called on the help of some friends — architect David Ripperton and engineer Mike Neal.

"We wanted to build houses that once the grass has come up and has been mowed two or three times, when a stranger comes through, they will believe that those houses have always been there," Griffin said.

They’ve succeeded with the three lots they’ve built on so far. The one-and-a-half-story houses, with their Craftsman front porches and tapered columns, look as much a part of Northside as the houses that have stood there for 50 to 75 years.

Shah and his family moved into the house at 605 Nunn St. in August. Another family will move into 602 Nunn St. in October. And 603 Nunn St. will be open for viewing from 2 to 4 p.m. today.

"It turned out really nicely, I think, for such a small, simple house," Ripperton said.

The three-bedroom house, with about 1,300 square feet, is built like a farmhouse. The inside is divided into quadrants, with the staircase in the middle and rooms on either side. The design allows for a lot of light in the house, including while walking up or down the stairs.

The windows have an artistic as well as an historic feel to them due to mullions — vertical strips — on just the upper panes.

"In the past, they couldn’t make large panes of glass," Ripperton explained.

The house features a living room, dining room, an open kitchen with tiled counters and a master bedroom and bathroom on the first floor. Upstairs are two bedrooms with large amounts of closet space, a bathroom with two vanities and a nook that could be a small office or child’s hideaway.

The roof of the house, with a gabled dormer, makes it look one-story and more compatible with houses in the neighborhood. The large back yard is full of light.

"They’re getting a fantastic house," said contractor Leacho Walker of whoever buys the cottage.

Walker, of W&W Builders, built the house and will work on the other Land Trust property on Sykes Street. Habitat for Humanity built the other two Nunn Street houses, using the Land Trust team’s design.

Already residents are seeing the effects of the new houses.

"It’s been a great impact on this community in that we don’t have as much drug traffic as previously," said John Rushing, who grew up in Northside and owns a house across from the newest Land Trust house.

He was working on the family home — just down the street from his own house — on a recent weekend and said he hopes the new houses will serve as a sense of pride for the owners and other neighbors.

Shah’s pride is evident.

"That house right there is piece of mind," said the father of six who was able to move his family from public housing. "There’s a lot of security here."