414 Park Avenue ~ A Restoration Artisan’s Victorian ~ $69,900 for 4,000 Square Feet of Living!

At the gateway to the Historic Park Avenue/Long Street Historic District, 414 Park Avenue with nearly 4,000 square feet of living space is everything the restoration craftsman wants in a historic Victorian. Like many Victorian homes of its day, 414 Park Avenue's exterior is graced with a wonderful wrap-around front porch and (2) sitting balconies.  The home features enormous rooms, hardwood floors, ample center hallways, and (8) fireplaces!  414 Park Avenue has a large back yard with a detached one-car garage.  

The North Long Street~Park Avenue Historic District was posted to the National Register of Historic Places on June 20, 1985.  The neighborhood features architecture from the late 19th and 20th Century Revival: Colonial Revival; American Movement: Bungalow/Craftsman; Victorian: Gothic.  The architecturally significant periods are: 1900-1924; 1875-1899; 1925-1949.  There are over 46 properties considered "Contributing Properties". 

This house, already a jewel in the neighborhood's crown, will be a masterpiece when its restoration and rehabilitation are complete.  A good portion of the home's restoration process has already been completed, yet there is more to do!  The renovated kitchen is delightfully large and sunny and features granite counter tops and wonderful lighting.  It opens with French doors to the renovated dining room (currently being utilized as a family room/den) with built-in china cabinet. The kitchen additionally features a walk-in pantry and rear mudroom that opens to a walled patio space that was once an enclosed room.  

The asymmetrically-massed house is sheltered by a shingled roof that is enlivened by a projecting pediment gable, a hip extension, and hip-roofed dormers.The terraced front lawn and wide central walk is enclosed with picket fencing. The concrete staircase from the city sidewalk to the front entry welcomes guest with a pergola at the gate. The over 500 sq ft wrap-around porch is straightforward in design without the more elaborate trimmings of the Victorian era. Windows in plain surrounds and a second floor balcony all complete the façade.

The first floor ceiling height reaches 11 ft. in most rooms. The center hall plan is finished with symmetrically molded surrounds, a turned baluster staircase, and original fireplace with its clean-lined mantel. Numerous original features still remain and include fireplace and mantels in many of the rooms.  

The terraced front lawn, with landscaping and large, shady old growth trees, is enclosed with picket fencing.  The staircase from the city sidewalk to the central entry walkway welcomes guests with a pergola over-structure at its gate.  The large back lawn includes a detached one-car garage.

Built as an elegant single-family residence, the property is presently occupied. 414 Park Avenue has (5) bedrooms, (4) baths (only one bath is operational). Home has NO Heat or A/C so it will need HVAC installed. The current owners use window heat and air units to heat and cool house.

This is a work in progress!  This c. 1900 property shows signs of its  history and the seller has priced it in relation to the average value of similar houses in the area with consideration for the work that needs to be finalized.  The listing price of $69900. reflects the remaining needed restoration vs. the grand scale of this 4000 square-foot home. The shingled roof is approximately 10-15 years old, and in good shape, apart from a flat roof with an intermittent leak in a rear bedroom that should be repaired. 

414 Park Avenue has tremendous potential to be a live/work property, provide rental revenue, or convert to a B&B or restaurant. The local community is willing to work with a new owner on redevelopment or improvements.  A preliminary cost budget for renovations can be made available by a preservation contractor.

414 Park Avenue is within walking distance to Historic Downtown Salisbury’s shops, restaurants, and galleries. The Park Avenue Historic District has been heavily invested in by the City of Salisbury with streetscapes, a central park, and adaptive reuse in the restoration of the historic Kesler Mills company stores.

Greg Rapp is showing this house in the "Buy History" event on August 28th.  If you  are not able to catch this annual event, contact Greg at 704.213.6846 to get a glimpse of the wonderful restorative potential that is 414 Park Avenue.

Arts & Crafts Homes in Salisbury North Carolina

Homes in Salisbury, North Carolina are rich in the Arts & Crafts period style of architecture. From the turn of the 20th century to World War II was the unique period in American architectural history where ordinary people could afford finely crafted detail such as rich wood trim, art glass, and colorful mosaics in their homes. The Arts & Crafts movement made rich detailing a mainstay of home design. The Arts & Crafts architectural styles — Prairie, Craftsman, Mission, Four Square — are purely American styles. Unlike previous house styles that designers adopted from European models, American Arts & Crafts homes are homegrown. No other nation, with the exception of Canada, has anything like them.

Owners of Arts & Crafts homes possess a true gem — an American original — full of handcrafted details that are rarely seen in modern housing. Newly built homes are full of 1/2" gypsum board walls, painted MDF moldings, and carpeting over OSB subflooring. The Arts & Crafts home is full of thick, plaster walls, varnished quarter-sawn oak moldings with oak strip flooring over a thick pine subfloor - a work of art.

The Arts & Crafts movement began as a rebellion against the heady excesses of the late Victorian age. Victorian architecture, also prevalent in Salisbury NC, celebrated the abundance made possible by mass production and industrialization. Inexpensive trim and moldings could suddenly be made by machines, could be easily shipped anywhere in the U.S. on our newly built railroad system, and were used with elaboration to embellish Victorian architecture. By the end of the 19th century, ornamentation had reached its zenith, but by the 1890s many had had enough of industrialization. A widespread rebellion against mass mechanization and a longing for simpler times fostered the Arts & Crafts style. The thought prevailed that the former days of villages, craft shops, and artisans were healthier and more humanizing than assembly-line work in factory towns shrouded in smoke and dust.

Before finally dying out around 1910, the Arts & Crafts Movement in America spawned a stunning revolution in architecture and design that largely dominated the 20th century until the 1940s. The Arts & Crafts home styles are generously represented in Salisbury’s older and established urban neighbor¬hoods. The architecture lasted just 50 years, then, with the end of the 2nd World War, Arts & Crafts styles quietly died. Challenged to build unheard of numbers of houses to meet the ravenous postwar appetite for new housing, homebuilders quickly abandoned the leisurely, handcrafted detailing of the Arts & Crafts period. While it was sad to see such wonderful artisanship go by the wayside, it was a new era. America had changed, and so had its housing needs.

The legacy of the Arts & Crafts movement is still alive in Salisbury, North Carolina in the form of hundreds of Arts & Crafts houses throughout the area. Salisbury is a town of just over 30,000, conveniently centered between Charlotte, Greensboro, and Winston-Salem, NC - about 45 minutes from each. It is close to major shopping and sporting or arts events. Its housing prices are very attractive when compared to the rest of the country, and it offers a moderate climate. It has a historic downtown mere blocks away, and ten Historic Districts. To see an Arts & Crafts listing in Salisbury, or to list your gem with a Realtor, contact Greg Rapp at 704.213.6846 today.