National Register of Historic Places – Piedmont Historic Homes

National Register Property For Sale: Gibsonville’s ‘Most Stylish and Impressive’ Turn-of-the Century Home, $425,000

January 25, 2023

Update: The home was sold for $350,000 on February 28, 2023.

The number of historic homes for sale has contracted sharply in recent months, along with the rest of the market, but one still robust category is National Register properties in Guilford County. There are three for sale, and 204 E. Railroad Avenue in Gibsonville is by far the most affordable. At $425,000, the price comes out to a modest $120 per square foot.

“The Francis Marion Smith House, erected in 1898, is the most stylish and impressive residence in Gibsonville surviving from the 1890-1910 period that witnessed the town’s major growth,” its National Register nomination says. “The two-and-a-half-story frame house combines elements of the Colonial Revival and Queen Anne styles, including an elaborate program of classical trim and turned ornament.”

Not surprisingly, given its location and date, it’s associated with the Whitsett Institute and family, arguably the most prominent family of its day in eastern Guilford County. “It is one of three notable late nineteenth and early twentieth residences associated with the Whitsett Institute, a boarding secondary school and junior college in the Whitsett community near Gibsonville. The three houses (one of which has already been listed in the National Register) are among the finest houses combining Colonial Revival and Queen Anne style elements in eastern Guilford County.”

For Sale: “The Most Ornate 19th Century Mansion in Alamance County,” $2.4 Million

August 25, 2022

Update: The listing was withdrawn without a sale in March 2023.

The Holt family is one of the most prominent in the history of Alamance County and of North Carolina as well. Charles T. Holt was a third-generation member of the textile family, and the mansion he built is quite the monument to the Holts’ stature.

“The Charles T. Holt House, the most ornate nineteenth century mansion in Alamance County, is located in the town of Haw River overlooking the Granite Mills complex, on twenty-five acres of lawn, grazing pasture, and farm land,” the property’s National Register nomination states.

New Listing: One of Greensboro’s Most High-Profile B&B’s, the Iconic 1909 Double Oaks, $1.795 Million

March 8, 2022

Update: The MLS listing was withdrawn on March 28.

The owners of Double Oaks, the Harden Thomas Martin House, are selling it as a turnkey business, including the furnishings and fixtures. But if you need 6 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms and a commercial kitchen just for yourself and your family, it would serve quite nicely as a $1.795 million single-family residence.

The house has been impeccably restored. The interior is as attention-grabbing as the exterior. Originally operated as a B&B from 1998-2007, the current owners bought and reopened it in 2016. They’ve restored the formerly closed third floor and added extensive landscaping, making it an active venue for weddings and other events.

The 1798 Philip and Johanna Hoehns House: In Forsyth County, They Don’t Come Much More Historic Than This

October 28, 2021

If you don’t recognize the name, various members of the family also went by Hoenes, Höhns, Haenes, Haines and Haynes. Also Hanes, which is how it’s pronounced. Eventually, this particular branch of the family started spelling it that way, and that’s how the world knows them today. Philip Hoehns, a second-generation Moravian American, was the first of the family to move to North Carolina, bringing along his parents and siblings from Pennsylvania in 1774. A few years earlier, he had bought land in Wachovia, the large Moravian settlement that contained most of what is now Winston-Salem and Forsyth County. He ultimately accumulated 1,800 acres in the area.

In 1778, Philip (1752-1820) married Johanna Salome Frey (1760-1845). “Settling on land Philip had purchased, tradition claims they first lived in a hickory-pole hut, followed by a log house,” the home’s National Register nomination states. “In the winter of 1797-1798, they began construction of their last house, a commodious and sophisticated two-story, four-bay-wide, double-pile, Flemish-bond brick dwelling.”

Philip became a prosperous farmer and distiller, and after his death it was said that “his industry and economy were accompanied by the blessing of God in an evident manner.” The blessing is still evident, as that commodious and sophisticated house of his has come up for sale at $1.695 million.

Greensboro City Council to consider green-lighting demolition of National Register home

September 20, 2021

Update, September 21, 2021: The house will be demolished. The City Council rubber-stamped the rezoning. For those who follow such things, council member Tammi Thurm was the only one who stepped out of line and voted against it.

The Kimrey-Haworth House was described as “endangered” when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places 30 years ago. But it’s never been as endangered as it is now. The Greensboro City Council will vote Tuesday evening on a rezoning proposal that would clear the way for the historic house to be demolished, along others on its block in the West Friendly Avenue-Muirs Chapel Road area, for a medical office building.

Medical office buildings can be built anywhere. There are some in the West Friendly-Muirs Chapel area already. But historic homes like the Kimrey-Haworth House, built around 1925, are increasingly rare. They can’t be replaced. The historic homes that would be demolished have greater value to the community than yet another office building. If the City Council says no to this developer, he can build his office building somewhere else and the community will get the same benefit from it. But if they say no to the Kimrey-Haworth House and its neighbors, those homes and their history be gone forever, and the value they bring to our community will be lost forever.

Sold: Mount Airy’s Edgar Harvey Hennis House, a 1909 National Register Home, for $560,000

August 19, 2021

1056 N. Main Street, Mount Airy, Surry County
The Edgar Harvey Hennis House

Sold for $560,000 on August 19, 2021 (originally $649,900)
5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3,798 square feet, 0.78 acre
Price/square foot: $147
Built in 1909
Listed March 15, 2021
Last sale: $187,000, August 2017
Neighborhood: Lebanon Hill Historic District

Four Classic Homes for Sale in Lexington’s Most Historic Neighborhoods

August 12, 2021

Lexington’s first residential neighborhoods were built out beginning in the the late 1800s, and they’re relatively intact today. Those neighborhoods — Courtenay, Hillcrest, Oak Crest, Park Place, Robbins Heights, Rosemary Park and Westover Heights — now constitute the Lexington Residential Historic District on the National Register. It’s a sprawling area running from Business 85 and Grimes School to the north down to West 9th Street to the south. It contains the much smaller Park Place local historic district.

The district contains a variety of interesting historic homes, and four of them are on the market now. They include a gorgeous Mediterranean Revival, a judge’s austere Colonial Revival, a Craftsman bungalow and a Craftsman Foursquare, all built between 1915 and 1926.

The Birthplace of Gov. Kerr Scott and the Family’s Political Dynasty, $750,000

July 14, 2021

3210 N.C. Highway 119 South, Haw River, Alamance County
The Henderson Scott House II

Sold for $735,000 on August 20, 2021 (originally $899,000)
6 bedrooms, 4 1/2 bathrooms, 4,371 square feet (per county records), 3.42 acres
Price/square foot: $168
Built in 1848
Listed June 10, 2021
Last sale: $450,000, February 2007
Neighborhood: Henderson Scott Farm Historic District
Note: The house is the birthplace of Gov. W. Kerr Scott.

The Ray-Jamerson House: An Affordable 1886 Beauty in Eden

September 27, 2020

Update: The Ray-Jamerson House sold for $217,500 on October 29, 2020.

Maybe it’s time to take another look at Eden. I drove up there recently to visit the Central Leaksville Historic District, particularly to take a drive-by look at 527 Patrick Street. Gorgeous neighborhood, gorgeous house, and amazingly affordable. After an afternoon wandering around town, I came away wondering if the town might be the Triad’s best undiscovered place for affordable historic homes.

County records list 527 Patrick as being built in 1920, but that would be way late for a Queen Anne like this. The historic district’s National Register nomination gives a more likely 1886 date. The house has three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 2,456 square feet. The listing’s pictures show the house to be in very good condition. The lot is 0.57 acre. It’s priced at $219,900, $90 per square foot. That’s a fabulous price compared to what a similar house would cost in, say, one of the historic districts in Greensboro or Winston-Salem.

Continue reading “The Ray-Jamerson House: An Affordable 1886 Beauty in Eden”

Boxwood Lodge: An Elegant National Register Mansion-Wedding Venue-B&B near Mocksville, $3.45 million

July 21, 2020

boxwood night.jpg — Photo from https://www.boxwoodestate.com/

Update: The lisiting was withdrawn without a sale March 8, 2021.

There are only four National Register properties for sale in the Piedmont right now (that I know of, at least, plus one under contract), but they represent a wide variety, particularly in size and price. There’s the small and unforgettable Villa Fortuna in Reidsville, just 1,500 square feet and $99,900 (needs some work). And then there’s Boxwood Lodge in Davie County, 9,300 square feet and $3.45 million (needs nothing but your $3.45 million).

Boxwood was built in 1934 and has been a B&B since 1995. The listing says a $5 million renovation was completed in 2007. The house is set on 51 mostly wooded acres near the Yadkin River, It has eight bedrooms, six full bathrooms and two half-baths in 9,304 square feet (according to county records). That comes to a remarkable $371 per square foot. But, then, it’s a remarkable house.

Piedmont Historic Homes

Historic homes for sale in the Piedmont Triad

Tag: National Register of Historic Places