It was an uncommonly boring week until Thursday. That’s when a listing appeared for Belmont, the most notable of the three houses in the the Robert Payne Richardson Houses Historic District in Reidsville. The Neo-Classical Belmont, 1700 Richardson Drive, is a standout in every way — architecturally significant (“an opulent example of the style, one of the finest in the state”), perched up on a hill overlooking the road, wonderfully maintained, with a range of features from a spectacular ballroom to a beach volleyball court (the mansion is now a wedding venue, after all). If you’re looking for about 9,000 square feet of truly impressive history on almost 10 acres, Belmont is up for $2.4 million, a relatively reasonable $256 per square foot. You could pay a lot more, per square foot, for a lot less (see below).
It was ‘H&G’ for two B&B listings this week.
H: The Dailey Renewal Retreat B&B in Greensboro, 808 Northridge Street, went up for sale at $569,900. The 1914 Queen Anne has been a B&B for 15 years. It, too, is a beautifully maintained house. It’s in a great neighborhood (Lindley Park), and it’s a much more manageable 3,200 square feet ($175 per square foot).
G: Unhappily, the owners of the renowned Burke Manor Inn in Gibsonville, 303 Burke Street, have pulled that mansion off the market again after years of off-and-on efforts to sell it. The B&B, restaurant and event venue had been listed at $2.3 million ($445 per square foot). Selling a top-of-the-line B&B cannot be easy in this economy.
Trend of the Month: Bailing out. An unusually large number of historic homes have been yanked off the market this month, at least 15 so far by my count (from 2021-2024, August withdrawals totaled only 14 houses). Among the houses no longer for sale are five in Winston-Salem, including the 1929 Tudor mansion of Leet O’Brien, a major Winston-Salem architect ($1.6 million), and 812 Gales Avenue in Ardmore, a nice little bungalow really pushing the envelope at $435,000 ($315 per square foot; John McEnroe has thoughts).
Roof of the Week: Put sunglasses on before looking at this one in Montgomery County.
Piedmont Historic Homes 