Piedmont Historic Homes

Updated May 29, 2023

Condos in historic buildings are found in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point, Mount Airy and other towns. Some buildings originally were apartments; others are in repurposed industrial or commercial buildings, often with ultra-modern interior design. At least four of the buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Buildings with current listings are marked with an asterisk below.

Recent Sales

Cannon Court Apartments, Greensboro

828 N. Elm Street
No current listings

Fisher Park Historic District NR nomination: “The 1920s saw the introduction to [Fisher Park] of significant buildings other than houses, most notably apartment buildings, two churches, and a synagogue. Reflecting the rapid growth of the city during the decade, the middle-class nature of much of the neighborhood, and the suburb’s location near downtown and many white collar jobs, more apartment buildings were built in Fisher Park than in any other neighborhood in the city.

“Generally three-story, brick, Colonial Revival style buildings, they were raised on or near North Elm street and Bessemer and Fisher avenues, the district’s three major thoroughfares. They include the Cannon Court Apartments at 828 North Elm Street and the Vance, Shirley, and Fairfax Apartments at the northeast corner of Magnolia Street.”

The 30 apartments became condos in 1984.

Dolley Madison Apartments, Greensboro

1013 N. Elm Street
No current listings

Fisher Park Historic District NR nomination: “The Dolley Madison Apartments, built at 1013 North Elm Street in the late 1930s, is a large, stripped-down, gray-brick building with flat wall surfaces, recessed paired windows, plain iron balconies, and a fringe of green tiles [now red] canted down from a flat roof.”

The building has 24 units. They became condos in 1984.

Dolley Madison (1768–1849) was the wife of President James Madison and stands as a figure of historic significance herself. She was born in Guilford County (although she disavowed her birthplace after the family moved back to its original home in more fashionable Virginia and then to Philadelphia).

Hartmann at the Flatiron, Greensboro

300-308 Church Court
201-207 Summit Avenue
No current listings

This eight-unit apartment building was built in 1922 and converted to condos in 2009. It was originally called the Kaplan Apartments and later the Flatiron.

McGee Lofts, Greensboro

121 W. McGee Street
No current listings

A four-unit condo building in the Downtown Greensboro Historic District. It was orginally the General Greene Hotel.

District NRHP nomination, describing how the building originally looked: “A three-story brick structure erected ca. 1915. Four intact, simple wooden storefronts at street level, including hotel entrance. Upper floors have six-bay divisions with course of rusticated stone trim running under the sills on each floor. Flemish bond brickwork on front facade, common elsewhere. Mock wooden balustrades flank hotel sign above third floor.”

Powhatan Apartments, Greensboro

904-906 W. Market Street
No current listings

The condos at 904 and 906 W. Market Street are the only properties on the north side of Market Street that are included in the locally designated College Hill Historic District. They aren’t included in the National Register district. The 12 apartments were converted to condos in 1984.

Preservation Greensboro: “The Powhatan Apartments were completed in 1927 at 904 West Market Street in College Hill. The elegant three-story brick building was an investment of Thomas A. Armstrong, who lived nearby at 841 West Market Street.

“Armstrong commissioned architect Harry Barton to design the initial 12-unit complex for a second phase to the west, which was completed in 1929. The expansion contained six units that were larger than the first phase.

“The entire complex is united beneath a variegated red and beige tile roof, and includes limestone entryways and trim, and a heavy modillion cornice.

“Powhatan was the Native American father of legendary princess Pocahontas.”

Wafco Mills, Greensboro

801 W. McGee Street
No current listings

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Wafco Mills in Greensboro is representative of an institution crucial to the development of local industries–the small industry owned and operated by a single family and handed down from one generation to the next. Its life spanned almost eighty years, during which the mill survived five wars and two major depressions. Credit for its durability and success must be given to the Watson family who established the company in 1893 and managed it through all of its active years.

The Wafco Mill is representative of late-nineteenth and early twentieth century
industrial building techniques through the presence of the three principal stages of its construction. Because the mill retains the majority of its milling machinery, it is an excellent example of the mill industry and the technology that it employed. North, Watson, and Company, who established the mill, were also mill builders, and the complex is a notable example of their work.

While W.A. Watson, Sr. and his son were instrumental in establishing the mills,
the driving force during the formative years was [son-in-law/brother-in-law] T. P. North who operated the Greensboro Roller Mills for four years. North succeeded in putting the mill on a sound financial footing through the introduction of a brand of flour to appeal to each segment of society. The names clearly established the relationships — Purity, A High Trade Patent; Star, A Fine Family Flour; Charm of Greensboro, The Poor Man’s Friend.

The mill complex was converted to condominiums with 28 units in 1982.

220 W. Market Street Condominiums, Greensboro

220 W. Market Street

220 W. Market Street, Unit 202, Greensboro

• $210,000 (originally $239,900)
• 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 630 square feet
• Price/square foot: $333
• Built in 1924
• Listed April 1, 2023
• Last sale: $58,000, July 2011
• HOA: $150/month
• Neighborhood: Downtown
• Note: The listing describes this 630 square-foot condo with the words “luxury,” “an unparalleled living experience,” “perfect,” “true masterpiece,” “true oasis,” “spacious bedroom” and “incredible.”
  • Currently a rental

The former retail and office building was converted to 33 condos in 2007. The building at 220 W. Market Street was built in 1924, but exactly when the building took its current configuration and facade is hard to determine. It now occupies the space between 214 and 232 West Market. Originally, there were five addresses to the left between 220 and 232 West Market and two to the right between 220 and 214.

The building was called the Ham Building, after its owners from 1924-39, Ernest and Leon Ham, and then the May Building, after its owner from 1940 to 1983, Louise May. The first floors of 220 West Market and its adjoining and now absorbed neighbors were occupied by a variety of retailers, including an A&P grocery store in the 1930s, a Harley-Davidson dealership (at 222), a cafe, a drug store, the U-Save-It food store and dealers in appliances, musical instruments, paint, rugs and other merchandise. Office tenants upstairs included finance and mortgage companies, many lawyers and real estate agencies, photographers, surveyors, and a justice of the peace.

Albert Hall, Winston-Salem

101 N. Chestnut Street
No current listings

Eighteen residential condos are located in this former R.J. Reynolds factory in the Innovation Quarter downtown.

“Albert Hall was reconstructed after a 1998 fire into office space for technology firms, with the top floor housing loft-style residential condominiums.” (Emporis)

The Exchange at Oak Street, Winston-Salem

836 Oak Street

836 Oak Street, Suite 400, Winston-Salem

• $395,000
• 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,310 square feet
• Price/square foot: $302
• Built in 1920
• Listed May 26, 2023
• Last sale: $275,000, May 2019
• HOA: $342/month

836 Oak Street, Suite 305

• $299,900
• 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,012 square feet
• Price/square foot: $296
• Built in 1920
• Listed May 29, 2023
• Last sale: $179,000, August 2018
• HOA: $264/month

Now a 30-unit condo building, this structure was originally the J.G. Flynt Tobacco Company, built in 1920.

Glade Street Condos, Winston-Salem

1201-1221 Glade Street

1221 Glade Street, Unit E, Winston-Salem
Sale pending May 22, 2023

• $565,000 (originally $599,000)
• 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,994 square feet
• Price/square foot: $283
• Built in 1942
• Listed April 6, 2023
• Last sale: $452,500, June 2015
• Neighborhood: West End Historic District (local and NR)
• Notes: The condo features a private, heated terrace and original herring-bone oak floors.

Local Historic Landmark Program: The former YWCA Administration Building on Glade Street was the home of the organization from 1942 to 2007. The Gray family donated land for the building, and J.G.Hanes chaired the fundraising committee. Local brickmaker George Black constructed the Glade Street Administration Building using hand-molded bricks. Architect Harold Macklin specifically requested George Black’s services for the project. African-American brickmaker Black worked at Colonial Williamsburg during the early years of restoration. He lived in Winston-Salem from 1934 until his death in 1980 at the age of 101.

The architect designed the building in the Colonial Revival style using Flemish bond brick pattern. Macklin utilized symmetrical massing and incorporated six-over-six wooden windows and a fanlighted door under a single-bay classical portico. From Glade Street, the building presents as a single-story façade, but a sloped grade allows for a two-story rear portion.

The Mill at Tar Branch, Winston-Salem

Indera Mill Court and Tar Branch Court
No current listings

Some of the condos in this complex are among the largest and most expensive you’ll find in a historic structure in the region, ranging up to 3,800 square feet and $725,000.

Indera Mills, Nation Register of Historic Places: “The Indera Mills complex, located at the southwestern comer of Wachovia and South Marshall Streets, was part of the broad textile industry development that occurred in Winston-Salem in the early years of the twentieth century. Specifically, Indera Miills, along with its predecessor Maline Mills, was a component of the small industrial center that developed from around 1880 until around 1915 between the towns of Salem to the south and Winston to the north.

“Many of the enterprises in this vicinity were associated with the Fries family of Salem and F.H. ‘Colonel’ Fries in particular. While the tobacco industry and families like the Reynolds have for many years dominated the industrial history of Winston-Salem, the textile industry of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was extremely important to the early industrial development of the city. Colonel Fries, already involved with several textile enterprises, founded Maline Mills around 1900. Maline Mills evolved from another young company Twin City Knitting Mill and later consolidated with Wachovia Knitting Company which had begun construction on the mill complex … in 1904. …

“In 1914, Colonel Fries and his nephew W.L. Siewers founded another knitwear company, lndera Mills, to produce knit slips, and knee and elbow warmers. Indera Mills began production in a small rented space in one of the Maline Mills buildings. By the mid-1920s, the demand for Maline Mills’ ladies’ knit vests was fading. Indera took over the entire mill complex in 1926. lndera Mills occupied the complex until 1998, continuing to utilize the coal-fired boiler for heat. This long-term use was an important factor in maintaining the high level of historic integrity that is visible throughout the complex today.”

Piedmont Leaf Lofts, Winston-Salem

Forsyth County Local Historic Landmark Program: “The Brown Brothers Tobacco Prizery is one of the few remaining buildings from Winston’s late 19th century tobacco industry. … a six-story, brick, Second Empire-style building, complete with mansard roof. The building features multiple window styles, including double-hung sash topped by brick segmental arches. The mansard roof is sheathed in alternating fish scale and straightedge slate shingles.”

“The building is Winston-Salem’s only remaining industrial example of the Second Empire style and one of only three examples of the style remaining in the city.”

Shenandoah Apartments, Winston-Salem

72 West End Boulevard
No current listings

West End Historic District NR nomination: “This Mediterranean style apartment building is one of the most handsome of the early apartments in the West End.

“The two-story building is characterized by white stucco walls interrupted by paired windows, a green tile pent eave at the roofline with a shaped parapet above and groups of scrolled brackets decorating the soffit, and a round-arched balconied window above the central entrance.

“Contributing to the significance of this property are the granite retaining wall separating the elevated yard from the sidewalk and the three flights of curved granite steps which lead from the street corner to the building.

“The apartment building may have been erected by E. Wright Noble, who owned the property between 1923-1933 and lived next door.”

Spruce Street YMCA, Winston-Salem

315 N. Spruce Street
No current listings

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: “The former Spruce Street building of the Young Men’s Christian Association in Winston-Salem is a four-story Classic Revival structure designed by Winston-Salem architect Harold Macklin. It stands in the midst of the city’s downtown business district, and it served the men and boys of the community as the ‘Y’ from 1927 until 1976, when the new West End building was completed.

“In addition, for forty-nine years the Spruce Street YMCA served newcomers to Winston-Salem with its one hundred and sixteen dormitory rooms. The Spruce Street building remains from an era of ‘Y’ work in which a downtown location was emphasized to attract young men who were entering the business and professional world and who needed a place to stay until they obtained a financial foothold.

“The Spruce Street YMCA was built during the 1920s building boom in Winston-Salem when the tremendous wealth generated by tobacco, textiles and other industries enabled businessmen and others to finance and build substantial civic and commercial buildings. From its founding in October, 1888, the Winston-Salem YMCA has garnered the financial and volunteer support of the business and civic leaders of the community, and the Spruce Street building stands as a reminder of the longevity and importance of the ‘Y’ program and as evidence of the long-standing tradition of philanthropy in-Winston-Salem.”

1 W. 5th Street, Winston-Salem

1 W. 5th Street
No current listings

The Charles Building extends through its entire block, facing both Liberty and Main streets with one long side of the building along 5th Street.

Downtown North Historic District nomination: “The Charles Store is a three-story yellow brick building that spans the block between Liberty and Main streets with primary facades at both ends.

“The Liberty Street facade is currently [i.e., in 2002] being rehabilitated to return it to its original appearance. The sheathing of large tiles added in the mid-twentieth century has been carefully removed, revealing the original brick shell with its simple, streamlined look achieved though subtle brickwork detailing and large open window areas nearly consuming the entire second the third floor levels. The first floor level retains its recessed entrance and large shop windows.

“The Fifth Street elevation continues the clean-cut look of the building with long rows of intact sash windows at second and third-story levels and a row of blind windows at first -story level. The Main Street facade was not remodeled in the mid-twentieth century and is remarkably intact. It continues, at third-floor height, the row of sash windows found on the Fifth Street elevation, but the second story is arranged with two rows of smaller sash windows.

“At the corner of the first-story level, shop windows and entrances with prism glass transoms and projecting cornices address both Main and Fifth streets. At the center of the Main Street elevation, a tall doorway with a fancy round-arched, ironwork fanlight provides entrance to the upper levels. North of the arched doorway is a loading door entrance, headed by the same cornice as found on the shop windows/entrances. The Main Street elevation is headed by a limestone cornice with a brick-paneled parapet.

“From 1906 to the 1980s, the property was owned by H.G. Chatham, A.H. Eller, and their heirs. The Charles Store was built in 1925, replacing smaller commercial buildings. During the early years of the building, Hutchins Drug Store was located at the Main Street side of the building.”

Emerywood Court Apartments, High Point

1203-1221 N. Main Street
No current listings

Uptown Suburbs Historic District NRHP nomination: “These five three-story apartment buildings have a stylized classical design and are arranged in rows with two buildings fronting on Main Street and joined by a curved brick wall with decorative metal entrance gates. The gates open to a courtyard that extends the full width of the two buildings with three adjoining buildings along the rear (west) of the courtyard and paved parking behind the buildings on Hillcrest Drive.

“The buildings feature brick veneers, flat roofs behind brick parapets, and metal casement windows. Each building is fourteen bays wide and double-pile with brick quoins, concrete water tables and window sills, a wide, two-part concrete band at the cornice, and a cast concrete panel with balustrade relief in the parapet above each entrance.

“Entrances facing Main Street abut the sidewalk and there placement doors are recessed slightly in paneled bays with classical surrounds and fluted pilasters. Entrances from the courtyard have six-panel doors with five-light-over-one-panel sidelights that are sheltered by small, hip-roofed entrance porches supported by columns with metal railings at the roofline. The courtyard features brick sidewalks and decorative plantings.

“The buildings are first listed in city directories in 1939 and [are] named for the adjacent neighborhood.”

The 54 apartments were converted to condominiums in 1980.

Maisons on Park, Asheboro

610 S. Park Street
No current listings

The Maisons on Park condos are in an eight-unit, brick apartment house built in 1941. The building was originally called the Carolina Apartments. It was converted to condos in 1985 by Gena Linburge Harris (1926-1998) and his wife, Dorothy Lee York Harris (1923-1996).

Gena Harris founded a jewelry store in Asheboro that grew to four locations. He later worked as a sales executive for two watch companies and operated a marketing firm. He was a founder of the Pinewood Country Club in Asheboro. Dorothy was assistant register of deeds for Randolph County and then worked in the family jewelry business. The Harrises had a second home in Myrtle Beach for 37 years. Gena served as president of the homeowners association of the Maisons-Sur-Mer condominiums.

The Factory, Kernersville

210 N. Main Street
No current listings

The Factory is a seven-building complex with condos, retail businesses and offices. It was originally a tobacco factory, then a textile mill and later a furniture factory. It also hosted a hotel from 1907-10, while it served as a tobacco factory and textile mill. Burlington Industries operated the plant from 1949 to 1964. Hooker Furniture used it from 1972 to 2003. The original section of the building was constructed in 1884. The 11 condominiums were established in 2007.

Commercial tenants include restaurants, hair salons and a law firm.

The undated historical photo above is from Kernersville! Magazine.

Renfro Mills, Mount Airy

165 Virginia Street

165 Virginia Street, Suite 406, Mount Airy

• $289,900
• 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,374 square feet
• Price/square foot: $211
• Built in 1893
• Listed March 26, 2023
• Last sale: $197,500, December 2021
• HOA: $230/month

165 Virginia Street, Unit 409, Mount Airy, Surry County
Sale pending May 9, 2023

• $274,900 (originally $289,000)
• 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, 1,075 square feet
• Price/square foot: $256
• Built in 1893
• Listed January 4, 2023
• Last sale: $156,500, May 2020
• HOA: Monthly fee not listed

Part of the building dates to the 1890s.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places: “Renfro Mill — initially the R. Roberts Leaf Tobacco House — is an excellent surviving example of the form of building typically used by the tobacco industry in Piedmont North Carolina for both factories and leaf houses during the late nineteenth century. These buildings, becoming increasingly rare, tend to be three-to-five story rectangular brick structures with stepped parapet gable ends, segmental-arched windows, and often decorative brickwork on the facade.

“Renfro Mill is also a prime example of the adaptation of a building from one industrial use to another. When small tobacco companies failed during the first two decades of the twentieth century because they could not compete with the big tobacco conglomerates, many of their buildings were taken over by other burgeoning industries. These buildings offered both good space and quality construction. In 1921 Renfro Mill, a new sock-making company, took over the former tobacco leaf house whose large open spaces served well the manufacturing needs of the company.

“Shortly after World War II, Renfro’s success demanded that it greatly expand its space. The additions to the original factory, still intact, specifically addressed the needs of the manufacturing processes used in the apparel industry. Renfro occupied its Willow Street plant until 1997. The Renfro company has been significant in the local economy for much of the twentieth century. When Renfro began manufacturing socks in 1921, it was the first real hosiery operation in Mount Airy.

“By the late 1990s, Renfro had become the nations’s largest sock manufacturer. Today, Mount Airy is a sock manufacturing center and the apparel industry as a whole is the largest branch of industry in town. Renfro Mill’s period of significance extends from ca. 1893 to 1947. It encompasses the building’s ca. 1893 date of construction as a tobacco leaf house, the date (1921) when the Renfro company, a sock manufacturer, purchased the building, and the date (1946-47) when the building was more than doubled in size so that all the company’s sock manufacturing processes could be consolidated in one location.”

The mill was converted to 37 condos in 2002.

Spencer’s Lofts, Mount Airy

232-238 Willow Street
No current listings

Spencer’s Mill is a former apparel manufacturing complex in downtown Mount Airy. The buildings were converted to 16 condos in 2017. The complex received a 2019 North Carolina Main Street award for downtown revitalization.

Mount Airy Historic District NRHP nomination: “In 1926, J.H. Crossingham moved to Mount Airy from the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania, where his father had established the Crossingham Knitting Mill in 1889 to produce ‘Dr. Spencer’s’ union suits. In Mount Airy, on July 8, 1926, the young Crossingham joined with W.E. Lindsey, John Banner, and F.L. Hatcher in establishing the Mount Airy Knitting Company. … J.H. Crossingham Jr. later became president, chairman of the board, and chief operating officer.

“Although the company initially manufactured union suits and other forms of underwear, this use evolved in the late 1940s. Seeing the opportunity presented by the baby boom after World War II, the company began to produce, almost exclusively, infants’ and children’s wear.

“In 1962, the company changed its name to Spencer’s Incorporated of Mount Airy, N.C., in honor of the ‘Dr. Spencer’s’ underwear the company had produced in its early days. For more than three quarters of a century, it prospered, with numerous expansions … until it became one of the largest and most respected producers of infants’ and children’s wear in the United States. The company that started in 1926 with only twelve employees grew to have some 2,000 employees, in Surry County alone, by the late 1980s. It closed in 2007.”