Lexington’s first residential neighborhoods were built out beginning in the the late 1800s, and they’re relatively intact today. Those neighborhoods — Courtenay, Hillcrest, Oak Crest, Park Place, Robbins Heights, Rosemary Park and Westover Heights — now constitute the Lexington Residential Historic District on the National Register. It’s a sprawling area running from Business 85 and Grimes School to the north down to West 9th Street to the south. It contains the much smaller Park Place local historic district.
The district contains a variety of interesting historic homes, and four of them are on the market now. They include a gorgeous Mediterranean Revival, a judge’s austere Colonial Revival, a Craftsman bungalow and a Craftsman Foursquare, all built between 1915 and 1926.
“Most of the housing stock dates to the high point of Lexington’s growth and development in the 1910s and 1920s,” the district’s 2007 National Register nomination says. “Although some of the historic properties have been altered with the installation of modern windows and synthetic siding and a small number of modern buildings post-dating the period of significance have been constructed, the district retains a high degree of integrity.”
300 W. 2nd Street, Mediterranean Revival
300 W. 2nd Street, Lexington, Davidson County
The William and Sadie Woodruff House
- $292,000
- 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 3,341 square feet, 1.15 acres
- Price/square foot: $87
- Built in 1926
- Listed July 29, 2021
- Last sale: $75,000, July 1985
- Neighborhood: Lexington Residential Historic District
- Note: The listing says the home has had only two owners.
- District NRHP nomination: “Several Mediterranean Revival-style residences are located in the district. The circa 1920 William W. and Sadie L. Woodruff House at 300 West Second Avenue is a classic example of the style. The two-story brick building has a green tile hip roof with a bracketed cornice, an entry framed by sidelights and a fanlight, a gabled entry porch supported by Tuscan columns, a screened side porch, and a front terrace with brick posts spanned by a wood balustrade.”
- “The house appears on the 1923 Sanborn map and was occupied by William W. and Sadie L. Woodruff in 1925-26. Mr. Woodruff owned Woodruff’s Shoe Store.”
210 W. 3rd Avenue, Colonial Revival
210 W. 3rd Avenue, Lexington, Davidson County
The Hubert and Annie Oliver House
contract pending August 5, 2021
- $310,000
- 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 3,144 square feet, 0.96 acre
- Price/square foot: $99
- Built in 1926
- Listed July 30, 2021
- Last sale: $190,000
- Neighborhood: Lexington Residential Historic District
- Note: “Two-and-one-half-story brick Colonial Revival with a side-gable roof and a gabled entry porch with grouped Tuscan columns and pilasters; 6/6 sash, arched windows in gable ends, entry with sidelights, flat-roofed sun porch on east elevation, brick end chimney.
- “The house appears on the 1929 Sanborn map and was occupied by Hubert E. and Annie Olive in 1937. Mr. Olive was a lawyer.”
- The Honorable Mr. Oliver served as a member of the Legislature and Superior Court judge.
404 W. Center Street, Craftsman Bungalow
404 W. Center Street, Lexington, Davidson County
- $350,000
- 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 2,218 square feet
- Price/square foot: $158
- Built in 1915
- Listed July 22, 2021
- Last sale: $77,000, September 2020
- Neighborhood: Lexington Residential Historic District
- District NRHP nomination: “One-and-one-half-story weatherboarded Craftsman bungalow with a side-gable roof and a large gabled dormer on the front roof slope flanked by two smaller gabled dormers; wraparound porch engaged on the front and supported by square posts on brick piers spanned by a wood railing, 12/1 sash, interior brick chimneys, false half-timbering above the tops of the windows in the gable ends, exposed rafter ends, triangular eave brackets.
- “This house does not appear on the 1923 Sanborn map and later Sanborn maps did not cover this block. The 1925-26 city directory did not cover this block. The earliest city directory reference for this address occurs in 1937 when Silas M. and Elsie B. Everhart occupied the house. Mr. Everhart was a foreman with the Lexington Telephone Company.”
610 Westside Drive, Craftsman Foursquare
610 Westside Drive, Lexington, Davidson County
contract pending July 9, 2021
no longer under contract August 1, 2021
- $105,000
- 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,759 square feet
- Price/square foot: $38
- Built in 1923
- Listed June 29, 2021
- Last sale: $42,000, September 2017
- Neighborhood: Rosemary Park, Lexington Residential Historic District
- Note: No central air conditioning
- Caveat emptor: The pictures with the listing suggest the house is in relatively good shape cosmetically, but it’s priced like a broken-down wreck.
- District NRHP nomination: “Weatherboarded Craftsman Foursquare with a front-gable roof and a shed-roofed porch supported by square posts spanned by a wood railing; porte cochere at south end of porch, single and paired 4/1 sash on the lower level, vinyl replacement windows on the upper level; entry with sidelights, brick end chimney, wood-shingled gables, triangular eave brackets, exposed rafter ends.
- “The house appears on the 1923 Sanborn map and was occupied by Edward and Mildred F. Hooper in 1937. Mr. Hooper was a meat cutter at Sink and Green. The Hooper’s son, Edward Jr., was a clerk at Efird’s Department Store.”
Piedmont Historic Homes 