Piedmont Historic Homes

108 Kemp Road West, Greensboro
The Marc and Clara Mae Friedlaender House

• Sold for $1.25 million on December 30, 2024 (listed at $1.5 million)
• 4 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 3,851 square feet (per county), 0.99 acre
• Price/square foot: $325
• Built in 1941
• Listed September 3, 2024
• Last sale: $225,000, March 1982
• Neighborhood: Hamilton Lakes
• Note: The house is located on Lake Euphemia.
  • Designed by architect Jack Pickens Coble (1909-1994). Coble was born in Greensboro. “He graduated from the Cornell University College of Architecture, where he won first prize in the 1934 Baird Prize Competition, $35 and a gold seal, for designing a proscenium arch and a curtain for an opera house,” his obituary in The New York Times reported. He practiced in New York City. He designed Cole Porter’s home in Williamstown, Massachusetts; other notable clients included Stephen Sondheim, Bennett Cerf and Mrs. Marshall Field.
  • Coble also designed the “Contemporary House” in the “House of Good Taste” exhibit at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York (more here) Admission: 50 cents. There were three houses — Traditional, Contemporary and Modern; Edward Durell Stone designed the “Modern” one. All were demolished after the fair.
  • Another house he designed in Greensboro is at 1307 Latham Avenue.
  • The listing shows only 3,653 square feet.
  • The original owners were Dr. Marc Frielaender (d. 1992, age 87) and Clara Mae Beer Friedlaender (1906-2006). Marc was a professor of English at the Women’s College from 1935 to 1958. He had been born in Columbus, Georgia, graduated from Princeton and taught at Tulane before coming to WC.
  • “Marc’s twenty-three years in Greensboro, 1935-1958, were a time of flowering, for he introduced a program for creative writing, and out of it grew a broader one — the Annual Arts Forum, directed by Marc for its first twelve years. His love of literature and the arts caused the Forums to attract young writers, poets, novelists, and eventually, as the word got around, seasoned writers who were willing to lecture and hold classes. In time the Forums expanded to give instruction in drama, dance, and music. Greensboro became a cultural center for the South that for a period each year had national attention.” (Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 104, 1992)
  • As a member of the Faculty Library Committee, Marc supported WC’s then-controversial policy of allowing students from N.C. A&T College and Bennett College to use the library. When the committee voted to continue the policy, “Friedlaender, a vocal supporter of racial equality, voted ‘yes,’ but added that he would like his vote to ‘carry with it too my understanding that the interpretation of the revised policy by the staff will be the broadest and most generous consistent with the spirit of our discussion.” Although segregationists were pressing to ban African American students from the library, Marc “also requested that records be kept and reports to the Committee be made documenting ‘all instances where the facilities of the Library were refused to any individual.'” (North Carolina Libraries, Volume 71, Spring/Summer 2013)
  • “Marc was active in additional ways — in the Southern Conference for Human Welfare, the Family Service, and the NAACP. When political changes in North Carolina brought about a reactionary climate and the ousting of the Women’s College chancellor, Marc decided to leave. Education as he understood it could thrive only in an atmosphere of free exchange and challenges.” (Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, vol. 104, 1992, pp. 206–09)
  • After leaving WC, he spent a year teaching at Vassar before joining Alfred Knopf and others as founders of Atheneum Press in New York City. “In all my years of publishing, I can think of no associate who more typified an endangered species — kind, gentle, warm, witty, honorable — the sort of characteristics which are hard to find in current book publishing circles,” Knopf said of Marc. (Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society)
  • Clara Mae was born in New Orleans. She was a classically trained pianist, a founder of the Greensboro Chamber Music Society and longtime trustee of the New England Conservatory of Music. She was a graduate of Sophie Newcomb College, the women’s college of Tulane University.
  • Marc and Clara Mae sold the house in 1960. The buyers were John T. Higgins (dates unknown) and Mary D. Higgins (d. around 1980). John was a vice president with Burlington Industries. In 1983, John, by then a widower, sold the house to the current owners.

122 Circle Drive, Thomasville, Davidson County
The Howard and Fran Coker House

• Sold on December 5, 2025 (price not recorded on deed; listed at $399,000, originally $449,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,975 square feet (per county), 0.41 acre (per county)
• Price/square foot: $NA
• Built in 1964
• Listed July 13, 2023
• Last sale: Before the house was built (Davidson County online records don’t go back that far)
• Note: A rare split-level Mid-Century Modern house
  • The house is being sold by the daughter of the original owners, Joseph Howard Coker (1933-1995) and Frances Celestia Coman Coker (1933-2022). Howard was a foreman at Thomasville Furniture Industries. Fran was a graduate of Fair Grove High School and Catawba College, a French and English major. She taught the subjects at Pilot High School and High Point Central. While still teaching, she founded The Fabric Center in Thomasville, which she operated until retiring in 2001.

2607 Woodview Drive, Greensboro

• Sold for $280,000 on November 25, 2024 (listed at $300,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,356 square feet, 0.28 acre
• Price/square foot: $206
• Built in 1961
• Listed October 19, 2024
• Last sale: $140,000, July 2013
• Neighborhood: Guilford Hills
• Note: The original owners were Paul E. McDowell, a mechanic, and Mary E. McDowell, a secretary (dates unknown for both). They bought the house in 1961 and sold it in 1964.

1579 Brown Road, Rockingham County

• Sold for $770,000 on November 7, 2024 $799,999
• 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 1,760 square feet, 12.74 acres
• Price/square foot: $437
• Built in 1976
• Listed October 10, 2024
• Last sales: $590,000, August 2023; $420,000, April 2021
• Neighborhood: Located about 10 miles northeast of Summerfield in southern Rockingham County.
• Note: The property includes a 600 square-foot studio; a four-stall horse barn with electricity, water and loft storage; and fenced pastures.

308engleman

308 Engleman Avenue, Burlington, Alamance County
The Jack and Shirley Ashley House

• Sold for $473,000 on October 2, 2024 (originally $560,000)
• 5 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 3,781 square feet, 1.26 acres
• Price/square foot: $125
• Built in 1976
• Listed July 19, 2024
• Last sale: $340,000, March 2020
• Neighborhood: Westerwood
• Note: Robert Penn “Jack” Ashley (1933-2021) and Shirley Mae Gusler Ashley (b. 1934) bought the lot in 1975 and built the house. Jack was a salesman in the Greensboro office of Pilot Life. He also was a successful drag racer in the 1950s and ’60s, teaming with the renowned Ronnie Sox, who was also from Burlington. Jack and Shirley were inducted into the East Coast Drag Times Hall of Fame in 2011. They sold the house in 2002.

908 N. Hamilton Street, High Point
The Richard and Emily Riemer House

• Sold for $382,500 on September 23, 2024 (listed at $389,900)
• 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,681 square feet, 0.39 acre
• Price/square foot: $228
• Built in 1970
• Listed August 16, 2024
• Last sales: $299,000 on July 22, 2022; $112,500, August 2018
• Neighborhood: A block east of the Johnson Street Historic District and a block north of the Sherrod Park Historic District.
• Note: The sale includes an adjoining lot.
  • Designed and built by one of High Point’s most remarkable residents, painter and stained-glass artist Richard Riemer. Richard George Riemer (1902-1998) and Emily (or Emilie) Gerty Klein Riemer (1905-1999), a piano teacher, had an astounding life together. They survived all of World War II in Nazi Germany. Richard was Catholic, poor and paralyzed from polio. Emily was Jewish.
  • From the website “Richard Riemer: Elevate Your Imagination”: “Emily was Mr. Riemer’s guiding light; helping him, paralyzed, through the war and until his death. Richard designed and oversaw the construction of their final home in High Point, North Carolina. The house was built around a piano studio where Emily taught piano with the expertise of a concert pianist, her love of music and unique personality, on her Farny baby grand. On the other side of their collection of artbooks, Mr. Reimer painted in his art studio …
  • “Mr. Riemer’s art tells the story of his love and admiration for his wife Emily. It tells of his admiration for the physical, athletic side of humanity, and its relationship with a beautiful animal, the horse. It tells of the strange propensities of the human mind. And it shows, in a very restrained, modest yet intricate and detailed manner, their tale of survival and journey to America. It takes years of looking to pick out the different themes in Mr. Riemer’s art, and even then one can never be sure there’s not something more.”
  • Richard’s paintings “are made from pieces of color, designed like stained glass, which Richard made for a living, and look their best when raised high, with good light, like a Cathedral window. Mr. Riemer took great pains in mixing his colors; he called it egg tempera, and mixed in various ingredients such as beer and urine.”
  • The Riemers were married in 1930 in Vienna. They had come to High Point by 1955 and became U.S. citizens in 1956. They owned the house until they died.

1828 Trentwood Circle, Reidsville, Rockingham County
Sale pending July 24, 2024

• Sold for $450,000 on September 3, 2024 (originally $499,000)
• 5 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, 2,706 square feet, 1.12 acres
• Price/square foot: $166
• Built in 1968
• Listed April 11, 2024
• Last sale: $245,000, March 1999
• Neighborhood: Pennrose Park
• Note: The lower level contains an office, bedroom and kitchen.

503 Overbrook Drive, High Point
The David and Elizabeth Chauns House

• Sold for $255,000 on July 24, 2024 (listed at $249,900)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,740 square feet, 0.22 acre
• Price/square foot: $147
• Built in 1971
• Listed June 18, 2024
• Last sale: $100,000, June 2013
• Note: Although only one exterior photo is included in the online listing, an open-house visit confirms that the house is indeed an undocumented MCM.
  • David T. Chauns (1900-1980) and Mary Elizabeth “Lib” Ellis Chauns (1915-2006) bought the property in 1971 and owned it for the rest of their lives. David was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and graduated from the Russian School of Dance. They operated the J.T. Ellis women’s clothing store, originally a dry goods store established by her father, John Thomas Ellis (1859-1925). David later founded Chauns School of Dance. The house was sold by Elizabeth’s estate in 2006.

1405 Emerywood Drive, High Point
The Robert and Elizabeth Connor House

• Sold for $380,000 on July 10, 2024 (listed at $385,000)
• 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, 1,904 square feet, 0.97 acre
• Price/square foot: $200
• Built in 1956
• Listed June 21, 2024
• Last sale: $155,000, June 2000
• Neighborhood: Emerywood
• Note: Designed by modernist architect Robert Connor as his residence. Bob Connor (1914-2007) and Elizabeth “Lib” Hatcher Connor (1918-2016) bought the property in 1955. They sold the house in 2000 to the current owners. “An avid environmentalist, Bob blended his home with its heavily wooded site with western red cedar sheathing and a low roofline. Walls are built of historic bricks salvaged from a demolished downtown building.” (NC Modernist)
  • Bob studied engineering at Duke University and architecture at NC State. During World War II, he served with the 93rd Naval Construction Battalion, the Seabees. After college, he moved to High Point, Lib’s hometown. He opened his architecture practice in 1956.
  • Lib was a graduate of Duke University in zoology and earned a master’s degree from the University of Missouri. She taught taught biology at Smith College, anatomy and physiology at the High Point Memorial Hospital School of Nursing and the Allied Health Programs of Bowman Gray School of Medicine and biology at High Point College.
  • Bob and Lib were among the founders of the Conservation Council of North Carolina and Friends of State Parks. They often lobbied the General Assembly for the protection of natural areas.
  • One of their daughters, Christine Connor Levin, is a distinguished lawyer practicing in Philadelphia. She handles antitrust and consumer fraud class action cases and is “particularly praised for her international cartel work in the USA and the EU.” She also works pro bono on prisoners’ civil rights cases.

3307 Gaston Road, Sedgefield, Guilford County
Commencement House III
The Herbert and Nancy Downs Smith House
Blog post (2022) — A 1964 House in Sedgefield Designed by Edward Lowenstein and 22 UNCG Undergraduates, $765,000

• Sold for $835,000 on July 5, 2024 (originally $765,000)
• 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 4,088 square feet, 1.6 acres
• Price/square foot: $204
• Built in 1965
• Listed April 5, 2022
• Last sale: $359,000, October 2009
• Neighborhood: Sedgefield
• Note: One of Edward Lowenstein‘s “Commencement Houses,” the three homes designed by Lowenstein and his students at the Women’s College (which had become UNCG by the time this one was built).
  • The entrance hall has a 17-foot high wall of windows. There are large windows throughout the house, an open staircase and minimal ornamentation. At the back, a second-floor deck provides a view of the Sedgefield Country Club golf course. The house sits well back from the street in a forested landscape. The kitchen is modern but maintains its strikingly 1950s look.
  • Herbert L. Smith Jr. was general manager of Cummins Diesel Carolina. Nancy was with WUNC-TV. “Nancy Downs, hostess for the WUNC-TV show Potpourri, had covered the 1958 Commencement House and had her eyes on being the next Commencement House client,” N.C. Modernist says. The Smiths owned the house until 1986.
  • Located along the 2nd fairway of Sedgefield Country Club’s Donald Ross course.