The most notable 20th-century historic homes sold in the Piedmont Triad this year are a diverse lot. They range from a 1905 Queen Anne in Troy to Mid-Century classics in Graham, Winston-Salem and, again, Troy. Oddly, the newest of the group is in Old Salem, a masterful 2010 reproduction of a lost house from the 1840s. The year’s only other historic house sale in Old Salem that I found was another reconstruction.
Other standouts include one of the oldest houses in Sedgefield, the party house of one of Gibsonville’s most colorful families and a monumental Neoclassical mansion no longer used as a residence in Winston-Salem. Details on each house are below; click on the address links for more information.
326 E. Main Street, Troy, Montgomery County
The Robert Terrell Poole House, 1905
- Sold for $310,000 on July 20, 2023 (listed at $389,000)
- 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,159 square feet, 0.94 acre
- Price/square foot: $98
Listing: “After 4 years of renovations, this 1905 Queen Anne with all the signature gingerbread, fancy fretwork, working transoms, original hardware has been brought back to life.” The home’s sale in 2019 was its first since it was built. The 2019 listing said the original gingerbread, fretwork, transoms and hardware on doors and windows were intact and that the interior featured a cantilevered staircase, decorative wooden ceilings and a lion head/lion paw mantle.
Robert Terrell Poole (1875-1940) was a lawyer and state legislator. He lived his entire life in Montgomery County. He served two terms in the state House. His wife, Bess Pulliam Poole (1884-1964) gave the house to two of their daughters in 1951. In 2019, the daughters’ heirs sold the house for restoration.
848 W. 5th Street, Winston-Salem
The Rosenbacher House, 1912
- Sold for $1.1 million on August 21, 2023
- 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 4,968 square feet, 0.50 acre
- Price/square foot: $221
- Neighborhood: West End Historic District (local and NR)
The house was the site of Michael’s on 5th, a locally prominent restaurant for more than 20 years beginning in the mid-1980s. It’s now occupied by a health spa and a cafe. The seller was a construction company that restored the house and used it as an office.
District NR nomination: “[T]he Rosenbacher House is one of the grandest of the Neo-Classical Revival dwellings in Winston-Salem. … The large two-story weatherboarded house is dominated by a monumental two-story central portico with Corinthian columns and a full pedimented entablature. Enhancing the Classical design of the facade are one-story curved porches with Ionic columns, turned balustrades, and modillioned cornices which run from the portico to the front corners of the house. At second story height, a modillioned cornice encircles the house beneath the truncated hip roof. …
“In 1909 Mrs. Carrie Rosenbacher, widow of Sigmund Rosenbacher, purchased the western half of Mrs. Jennie D. Kerner’s lot, and the following year she and Alladin, Fannie, Otto, and Sandel Rosenbacher were listed at this location in the city directory. The Rosenbachers were associated with Rosenbacher & Brothers, a successful clothing store in Winston. By 1946 only Sandel Rosenbacher was living in the house, but the family retained ownership until 1975.”
100 Fisher Park Circle, Greensboro
The William and Jessie Hewitt House, ca. 1915
- Sold for $1 million on November 13, 2023 (originally $1.595 million)
- 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 6,855 square feet, 0.42 acre
- Price/square foot: $146
- Neighborhood: Fisher Park Historic District (local and NR)
District NR nomination: “Three Fisher Park Historic District dwellings display the two-story columns and porticos synonymous with the Neoclassical Revival … Bank president W.A. Hewitt’s house, built between 1920 and 1925 at 100 Fisher Park Circle, at the edge of the park and North Elm Street, is a large, two-and-a-half-story frame structure with a swan’s neck entry surmounted by a Palladian window, side wings with columned sun porches, and a two-story pedimented portico of attenuated columns.”
William A. Hewitt (1873-1939) and Jessie Scott Hewitt (1883-1950) were living in the house by 1915. William was the owner of Greensboro Supply Company, a machinery dealer, and later served as president of the local Morris Plan Bank. In 1920 he was president of the Rotary Club; Fisher Park neighbor Julian Price was vice president.
After Jessie’s death in 1950, Dr. Hugh Melvin Hunsucker (1916-1989) bought the house. He divided it into six apartments and an office for his orthodontics practice (he lived in Starmount Forest). After his death in 1989, the house was kicked around from one owner to another three times before the current seller bought it in 2002 and restored it as a single-family residence.
3306 Gaston Road, Sedgefield, Guilford County, 1926
- Sold for $1.55 million on May 30, 2023 (listed at $1.399 million)
- 5 bedrooms, 5 full bathrooms, 2 half-bathrooms, 6,808 square feet, 1.09 acres
- Price/square foot: $228
- Built in 1926
Listing: The kitchen has two dishwashers, a commercial-grade gas stove, built-in refrigerator, three sinks, “and more.” The property includes a swimming pool, cabana, outdoor fireplace and “numerous” outdoor sitting areas. The basement has a sauna, safe room, bedroom, full bath and exercise room.
If the 1926 date is accurate, this is one of the oldest houses in Sedgefield. The community was developed beginning in 1923; by one accounting, only 35 of the community’s 620 homes were built before 1940. About half were built between 1970 and 1999.
For this particular property, no early history can be found. No deeds earlier than 1946 can be identified online, and no city directories covered Sedgefield, lying well beyond both Greensboro and High Point for decades. Similarly, Sedgefield lies outside area of interest for the two cities’ libraries and history museums.
303 W. Greenway Drive North, Greensboro
The Mary and Hugh Preddy House, 1928
- Sold for $915,000 on February 6, 2023 (originally $995,000)
- 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 3,961 square feet, 0.61 acre
- Price/square foot: $231
- Neighborhood: Sunset Hills Historic District (NRHP)
The house is on a hill overlooking Sunset Hills Park. Architect Lorenzo Winslow (1892-1976) designed the house. Among his other local works are the Irving Park Apartments on North Elm Street. He later served for 20 years as architect of the White House, responsible for the complete reconstruction of the interior from 1948-52.
District NRHP nomination: “The two-and-a-half-story, three-bay, side-gabled, brick and half-timbered Tudor Revival-style house features a projecting, two-story, front gable containing the entrance. A wood batten door with metal strap hinges and pierced by a small window with diamond-patterned wood muntins is set in a Tudor arched-head brick surround. Narrow windows with stone sills flank the door. … A variety of decorative brick patterns grace the first level.”
Hugh Newell Preddy (1886-1952) and Mary Dodson Preddy (1891-1963) bought the house in 1928. Hugh was a clerk for E.A. Pierce & Co., one of the brokerage houses that later were merged into Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith. After the stock market crash, he lost job, and in 1933 the Preddys lost the house to foreclosure. The house was bought by the estate of Mary’s grandfather, allowing the family to stay until 1941, when the house was sold.
7075 Kivette House Road, Gibsonville
The Kivette House, 1934
Blog post on Greensboro Historic Homes — The Kivette Houses, Both Now For Sale: The Gibsonville Homes of Two Sisters Who Loved Parties and Elon
- Sold for $900,000 on January 9, 2023 (originally $875,000)
- 7 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms, 6,336 square feet, 13.28 acres
- Price/square foot: $142
The property includes a two-story carriage house. It was marketed as a residence or as a B&B, which it once was. Pearlee Lassiter Kivette built what is now the center section of the house in 1934. He sold lumber and coal and is said to have been the first millionaire in Gibsonville. He also owned land that his daughters eventually sold for the creation of the Rock Creek Industrial Park on I-85. His wife, Annie, was a milliner.
The house wasn’t built to be the family home. That was on Church Street in town. Pearlee and Annie liked big parties, and the new house had 13 acres, so there weren’t any neighbors close enough to complain about them. Their daughters, Camille and Florence, loved parties, too, and they expanded the house, adding the two wings to create a 6,300 square-foot mansion. Their Christmas parties, held annually from 1955, drew more than 600 guests, and they entertained throughout the year, including events for fraternities, sororities and other groups from Elon.
923 Country Club Drive, High Point
The James and Jesse Millis House, 1960
- Sold for $1.2 million on May 9, 2023 (listed at $1.2 million)
- 5 bedrooms, 7 bathrooms, 6,812 square feet, 0.85 acre
- Price/square foot: $176
- Neighborhood: Emerywood
The lot was vacant for decades after the neighborhood was initially built out. James Henry Millis (1923-2004) and Jesse Ellsworth Evans Millis (1925-2010) bought the property in 1954 and owned it for 58 years. James was a grandson of James Henry Millis (1849-1913), co-founder of Adams-Millis Corporation. The younger James became CEO of the company, then the largest manufacturer of hosiery in the world. He had been a P-47 fighter pilot in World War II before spending his entire career at Adams-Millis. Their children sold the house in 2012.
807 S. Main Street, Old Salem
The Traugott Leinbach House, 1824, reconstructed 1974
- Sold on April 28, 2023, price not listed on deed (listed at $635,000)
- 3 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms, 2,155 square feet, 0.39 acre
- Price/square foot: $295
- Neighborhood: Old Salem Historic District (local and NR)
The house is a faithful reconstruction of the 1824 house built by silversmith Traugott Leinbach, using handmade brick, Hendricks tile for the roof, copper gutters, antique hardware and locksets, handmade lighting fixtures, antique mantels and millwork. The property includes a detached guesthouse/office of about 300 square feet with a full bathroom.
District NR nomination: “The Leinbach house is built against the sidewalk and has a picket fence surrounding the lot. The house is a one and one-half story Flemish bond brick building with side gable roof (ceramic tile) with flush ends and a kick at the eave. The box cornice has bed molding and a plain frieze board. … In 1854 Leinbach, silversmith and watchmaker, constructed a three-story addition to the north side of his house. His interests were many, including galvanic battery operations and Daguerreotype photography.”
By 1912, the house had been demolished. Four houses were built on the lot; they’ve all been removed.
482 Biscoe Road, Troy, Montgomery County
The Charles and Dorothea Russell House, 1974
- Sold for $1.075 million on August 10, 2023 (originally listed at $1.095 million)
- 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 5,588 square feet, 23.47 acres
- Price/square foot: $192
Ther house was designed by renowned modernist architect Thomas Hayes; landscape design by Lewis Clarke.
The property includes a vineyard, barn, solar energy installation near the barn and 2,400 square-foot swimming pool. The property consists of two adjacent lots, split by the city-county line. The lot with the house (15.2 acres) is in the city of Troy; the other (8.27 acres) is in the county.
2520 Aaron Lane, Winston-Salem
The Donald and Nancy Wolfe House, 1976
- Sold for $625,000 on December 1, 2023 (listed at $585,000)
- 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 2,945 square feet, 0.55 acre
- Price/square foot: $212
- Built in 1976
- Neighborhood: Woodberry Forest
The house was designed by Wesley McClure of the McClure Design Group of Raleigh.
The original owners were Donald Howard Wolfe (1934-2019) and Nancy B. Wolfe, who owned the house from 1976 to 1995. As a faculty member of Wake Forest’s theatre department, Donald directed more than 30 plays from 1968 to 2000. He served as president of the Southeastern Theatre Association and the North Carolina Theatre Association and was active in the Little Theatre in Winston-Salem. He was a supporter of the North Carolina Black Repertory Company and the International Black Theatre Festival, which honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Wolfes sold the house to the seller in 1995.
2001 Crescent Drive, Graham, Alamance County
The Jim and Jane Ferrell House, 1978
- Sold for $687,500 on February 24, 2023 (originally $787,500)
- 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 5,219 square feet, 1.84 acres
- Price/square foot: $132
The property hadn’t been sold since the house was built. Listing: “Based off an original design by architect Avriel Shull.” Avriel Joy Christie Shull (1931–1976) was an architectural designer/builder and interior decorator who worked primarily in Indiana. She is best known for her mid-century modern residential designs. In the 1970s she began selling house plans in do-it-yourself home-building magazines. Something you don’t see every day: “large entertainment room with bar and dance floor”
The property was bought in April 1975 by James Miller Ferrell (1938-2017) and Katherine Jane “Pookie” Ferrell (1937-2021). They operated Ferrell Manufacturing Company in Graham. At the time of his death, Jim had remarried and was living in Kyiv, Ukraine.
411 S. Main Street, Old Salem, Winston-Salem
The Shultz-Cooper House, ca. 1840, reconstructed 2010
- Sold for $810,000 on August 14, 2023 (originally $1,050,000)
- 4 bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms, 3,900 square feet
- Price/square foot: $208
- Neighborhood: Old Salem Historic District (local and NR)
Listing: “Based on old photography, partially excavated foundation, and tons of research and experience, the home has been reconstructed to its original 1840’s appearance by historic home builder Steven Cole.”
The house features reclaimed doors and iron work from the 1700’s, full mortise and peg windows made of heartpine wood and wavy glass, imported European bricks to line the fireplaces, and wide board white oak flooring on three of the four levels.
District NR nomination: Blacksmith Samuel Shultz (d. 1825) rented this lot and used it for a garden before building a small retirement home on the north end in 1924, probably a log building on a stone foundation (found archaeologically). Charles A. Cooper (1810-1866), a furniture maker and house painter, purchased the improvements from Shultz’s widow in 1834 and added a shop on the south side of the lot. Cooper also expanded the house to 45 feet in length and two full stories. The house and shop are on the 1912 Sanborn Insurance maps, but by 1917 they had been replaced by two new houses. Old Salem removed those houses in the 1980s for archaeological work. Based on evidence uncovered and archival materials, the building was reconstructed by builder Steven Cole and Old Salem Inc.
Piedmont Historic Homes 