An intriguing restoration project, a variety of historical styles and a mixed bag of sales are among the most interesting historical homes for sale this week. In Yadkinville, the Mackie Family House, 420 Carolina Avenue, went up for sale at $325,000, $126/square foot. The house is one of three in town with the Mackie family name attached. This one belonged to Solomon Lee Mackie (1863-1929) and Fannie W. Robertson Mackie (1867-1946) for about 40 years. Lee operated a tannery, which was just southwest of the house.
“The front block of this house appears to be a 1910s addition to an older turn-of-the-century one-story dwelling which is now the ell,” the State Historic Preservation Office says. “There is a shed roof porch on the original front elevation of this house and another along the north side. An enclosed porch carries across the rear of the two-story addition and along the ell.”
Lee and Fannie passed the house on to their son Frank Woodhouse Mackie (1908-1987) and daughter-in-law Izetta Deete Steelman Mackie (1909-2003). Izetta worked for the Yadkin County Ration Board and later retired as the Yadkinville postmistress. Frank was a wildlife officer for 32 years and later worked for the State Biology Division of Wildlife. Izetta owned the house until her death. It is now being sold by one of their daughters.
The grandest new listing of the week is a 1936 French Eclectic home in Greensboro’s Irving Park, 404 Country Club Drive. “It features a slate-covered hipped roof, half-timbered detailing [now painted over and almost invisible], segmental-arched windows, and a recessed front entrance with a French door and a segmental-arched transom,” the neighborhood’s National Register nomination says. It was originally the home of jewelry-store founder Barnet Saslow (1894-1978) and Esther Cohen Saslow (1897-1982). And what do the words “Country Club Drive” tell us? Expensive! It’s $2.1 million, a staggering $602/square foot (staggering but not unprecedented for the neighborhood).
Winston-Salem’s Washington Park Historic District had two interesting houses come onto the market this week. The simple Queen Anne at 419 Acadia Street dates back to 1900. It’s priced at $550,000, $207/square foot. The earliest known owners were Charles Anderson Crews, 1868-1952, a tile manufacturer, and Emma Louisa “Lula” Hall Crews (1866-1941) in 1921. One of their granddaughters sold the house in 2018. Their son Hall Crews (1894-1966), an architect, lived with them and had his office in the house for a time. He designed some interesting buildings:
Also in Washington Park, the very nice 1922 Craftsman at 215 W. Banner Avenue is priced at $565,000, $301/square foot (again with the $300-plus/square foot!). The original owners were William Matsen and Gertrude Matsen. William was a traveling salesman. Looking people up in old city directories, I’ve been amazed at how many traveling salesmen there were back then. That and clerks — so many clerks. But, then, soon all job titles will be quaint and obsolete as artificial intelligence replaces everyone and we’re all left to wait for the machines to get bored with us and wipe us out. But — cheer up! — that probably won’t happen for three or four years.
And by that time, the happy buyers of these houses will be a few years into the 30-year mortgages that they’ll no longer have to worry about. A lovely restored mill house in Glencoe sold for $402,000, a bit above its asking price of $399,900. The outcomes weren’t so good for two sellers in Greensboro. The outstanding 124 S. Mendenhall Street in Greensboro’s College Hill sold for $585,000; it was initially listed a year ago at $850,000. A 1972 MCM in Greensboro sold for $740,000; it was listed in 2023 for $945,000. Unrealistic expectations, misreading the market and plain bad luck can sidetrack any sale, no matter how great the house.
Piedmont Historic Homes 