Piedmont Historic Homes

It may seem like current trends — interest rates, especially — are disadvantaging both homebuyers and sellers these days. There are some interesting trends emerging, though. April has seen an uptick in the number of historic homes for sale. It’s largely seasonal, of course, but the sheer number of homes coming onto the market seems greater than the typical spring upturn.

At the same time, competition among buyers is becoming more common. This month, 14 historic-home sales have closed at prices above asking prices, eight of them in Forsyth County. Compared to recent years, that’s a lot. (There also have been a few closings with conspicuously lower prices than listed. There’s more to say about that next time.) Here are eight of the houses that have sold significantly above their asking prices this month, plus the big winner of the year, which closed at 67 percent over its asking price in January. Click on the links for more information.

2201 Westfield Avenue, Winston-Salem, $550,000, +$55,000, 11%

2201 Westfield Avenue, Winston-Salem

• Sold for $550,000 on April 2, 2025 (listed at $499,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 2,118 square feet, 0.18 acre
• Price/square foot: $260
• Built in 1926
• Listed March 14, 2025
• Last sale: $295,000, June 2017
• Neighborhood: Ardmore Historic District (NR)

District NR nomination: “Period Cottage. One and a half story; side gable; steeply-pitched, front-gable projection; shed-roof dormer; brick; six-over-six, double-hung sash; side porch; small sidelights; blind fanlight on consoles; recessed entry.”

2109 Queen Street, Winston-Salem

• Sold for $270,000 on April 18, 2025 (listed at $250,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,637 square feet (per county), 0.29 acre
• Price/square foot: $165
• Built in 1936
• Listed April 4, 2025
• Last sale: $140,000, February 2000
• Neighborhood: Ardmore Historic District (NR), again
• Note: “Ready for renovation.” Previously a rental.
  • The second floor is cooled with window units.

District NR nomination: “Period Cottage. One and a half-story; side gable; brick; front-gable projection; front-gable entry pavilion; round-head door; six-over-six, double-hung sash; basket weave cornice.”

813 Miller Street, Winston-Salem

• Sold for $421,000 on April 23, 2025 (listed at $399,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,629 square feet (per county), 0.16 acre
• Price/square foot: $258
• Built in 1925
• Listed March 12, 2020
• Last sales: $271,000, June 2020; $179,000, May 2010
• Neighborhood: Ardmore Historic District (NR), and again

District NR nomination: “Period Cottage. One and a half story; side gable; front-gable projection; cedar shingles; brick facade chimney; brick, jerkinhead-roof entry porch with battered sides; six-over-one, double-hung sash; segmental arch door head.”

310 Summit Street, Walnut Cove, Stokes County
The Cahill-Fulton-Cates House

• Sold for $265,000 on April 4, 2025 (listed at $250,000)
• 4 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, 1,693 square feet, 0.44 acre
• Price/square foot: $157
• Built between 1875 and 1900 (see note)
• Listed March 15, 2025
• Last sale: $165,000, October 2020

The 1989 Stokes County Historic Inventory cites the Cahill-Fulton-Cates House as an “excellent example” of “houses of simple but handsome Italianate influence … built in Stokes County during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Located primarily in the towns, these houses made use primarily of gabled roofs with overhanging eaves and bracketed cornices, pedimented door and window surrounds, and fancy porches with chamfered posts and sawnwork brackets and balustrades.”

1024 Tobacco Road, Chatham County, $680,000, +$31,000, 5%

1024 Tobacco Road, Chatham County
The Britten-Norwood House
Sale pending March 22, 2025

• Sold for $680,000 on April 28, 2025 (listed at $649,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,408 square feet, 3.42 acres
• Price/square foot: $282
• Built in 1870 (see note)
• Listed March 18, 2025
• Last sale: $535,000, December 2022
• Neighborhood: Located about 10 1/2 miles north of Pittsboro. The house has a Pittsboro mailing address.

Chatham County Historical Association, Architectural Update, 2019-2012: Greek Revival; wood siding; stone foundation; two story; metal roof; hip roof front porch with four posts and modest brackets; three stone and brick chimneys (one on each end of the main house and one off the rear ell).

“A picket fence surrounds portions of the home. There are several small outbuildings on the property. There is a deck off one side of the home. The front door has sidelights. Log is visible on the interior of the rear ell. The rear ell has a Dutch door on one side.”

828 S. Park Street, Asheboro, Randolph County
The Eli and Ella Kemp House

• Sold for $313,000 on April 2, 2025 (listed at $298,000)
• 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,220 square feet, 0.24 acre
• Price/square foot: $141
• Built in 1935
• Listed February 17, 2025
• Last sale: $126,000, October 2016
• Neighborhood: Park Street Terrace

The earliest known owners were Eli Joab Kemp (1874-1955) and Ella Rose Humble Kemp (1880-1964), who were listed at the address in 1937. Eli was a farmer and lumberman. They lived in the house the rest of their lives. Their heirs sold it in 1968.

9069 Lasater Road, Clemmons, Forsyth County
The Herbert and Patricia Williams House

• Sold for $626,000 on April 23, 2025 (listed at $600,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 2,148 square feet, 9.27 acres
• Price/square foot: $291
• Built in 1980
• Listed September 8, 2023
• Last sales: $525,000, January 2024; $481,000, June 2021
• Note: The sellers changed the house substantially. They’ve decimated the landscaping. They’ve also installed cheap vinyl floors; at this price, buyers should expect better.

The house was built by Herbert E. Williams (1941-2020) and Patricia W. Williams. They bought the property in 1979 and owned it until 2021. Herbert was born in Forsyth County. He graduated from Gray High School and Guilford College. He worked for Reynolds American for 30 years.

4110 Oak Ridge Road, Summerfield, Guilford County
The Cyrus Scarlette House

• Sold for $258,500 on April 11, 2025 (originally $249,000, later $239,000 and then $297,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,097 square feet, 0.65 acre
• Price/square foot: $236
• Built in 1924
• Listed October 27, 2023
• Last sale: $124,000, April 2016
• Neighborhood: Summerfield Historic District (NR)

District NR nomination: “In the 1920s and ’30s, Cyrus Scarlette worked at the Summerfield Motor Company, as did his sons, Lee, ‘Boots,’ Bill, and Herbert. He moved into his modern bungalow home at 4110 Oak Ridge Road in 1928.” Cyrus and Mary Bailey Scarlette and their heirs owned the house for 58 years.

212 Cascade Avenue, Winston-Salem, $610,000, +$11,000, 2%

212 Cascade Avenue, Winston-Salem
The Henry L. Trotter House

• Sold for $610,000 on April 24, 2025 (listed at $599,000)
• 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,888 square feet, 0.51 acre
• Price/square foot: $157
• Built in 1919
• Listed March 29, 2025
• Last sale: 1961, price illegible in online deed
• Neighborhood: Washington Park Historic District (NR)

District NR nomination: “Frame foursquare house with deck-hip roof, hipped central dormer on front and both sides, three bays wide. Central entrance beneath later gabled and arched portico supported by paired classical columns; front door with elliptical fanlight and leaded sidelights. … Property formerly included a garden at what is today 228 Cascade.”

Henry Lee Trotter (1879-1969) Adalaide Fischer Trotter (1882-1981) owned the house from 1922 to 1957. Henry was a founder of Ideal Dry Goods Company.

And the Year’s Big Winner So Far: 2240 Queen Street, Winston-Salem, $252,000, +$101,000, 67%

2240 Queen Street, Winston-Salem
The James and Ruth Snyder House

• Sold for $251,000 on January 16, 2025 (listed at $150,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,557 square feet, 0.25 acre
• Price/square foot: $161
• Built in 1938
• Listed October 25, 2024
• Last sale: $25,000, March 1977
• Neighborhood: Ardmore Historic District (NR) — another one
• Listing: The house requires “significant updates and renovations.”

District NR nomination: “Period Cottage. One and a half-story; side gable; brick; four (vertical lights)-over-one, double-hung sash; front-gable porch with catslide roof line and arched openings; brick piers; round-head door; facade chimney; round-head attic window.”