Anything even if it doesn’t have much in the way of windows? I can’t imagine how dark it must be inside those regardless of the cotton candy color on the outside.
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Rare opportunity for a developer to buy .32 acre on Lenoir St. less than half a mile from Fayetteville St.
It is already zoned NX-3, which would allow for a mixed use development. I’m hoping a developer gets ambitious and builds retail and apartments, the house is too rough to renovate.
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Bit of a shame about the old house, as it’s got attractive bones and a classic Southern porch.
Still, great spot for density, right in between Transfer Co and Chavis Park.
From Olde Raleigh:
File this under, “Things That Make Your Stomach Turn,”-- but perhaps, “Not All Hope Is Lost.”
The large house seen on the left, 573 East Lenoir Street, went on the market two days ago for $525k. The house is presently unoccupied and has been for at least a decade. While it needs paint and its windows are boarded, it appears to be in decent condition otherwise.
The real-estate listing states, “Property is being sold for land value only, home sold as is - at NO VALUE.”
On the contrary, this house has enormous historical value. It was built c. 1915 for John W. Ligon, a Black educator, pastor and businessman. In 1953 the newly opened Ligon High School was named in his honor.
This historically Black high school was the largest school construction project in the state at the time. It is reported that early into its history it boasted more teachers with graduate degrees than any of Raleigh’s three white high schools. When the school was integrated in 1971 it was changed to a middle school, later becoming a magnet school in 1982. Ligon Middle School continues to champion for diversity in its student body and remains one of Wake County’s highest ranked schools.
Judging from the past actions of Raleigh developers, the house will be demolished, no building materials will be salvaged and we’ll see new construction on this corner in under a year–but it doesn’t have to play out that way.
N.53.16.1909
From the Albert Barden Collection, State Archives of NC.
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I live right by this house and have always dreamed of buying it and fixing it up. I hate that it’s in disrepair and would love for it to be fixed up, but if thats not in the cards, I hope some density comes to that lot.
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Yes. I was disturbed by the total lack of respect for the historic value of this property in the listing. I thought there was a historic marker on the property but maybe not.
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Between the Daniels house getting its status stripped and coming down in Five Points and this one never getting historic status at all, it’s been a big year for historic house haters of all stripes.
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Here is a story about the house and Mr Ligon from this am’s N&O
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article255881189.html
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Seems the family still owns the property. How do you weigh historic preservation with the family’s financial rights?
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financial rights and tax burden.
While I do wish this would get renovated and turned into a visitors center or community park surrounding it, but these conversations only reach this level on the 11th hour. Here is the most glaring part of the article I think people are overlooking :
“The commission sent a letter to the family in 2013, offering to start the process of it becoming a landmark, but never heard back.”
At that point what else can you do?
But only a couple paragraphs later they quote someone that completely contradicts that whole statement:
“The city’s just going to destroy everything that people like about the city.”
You get the impression this home is better suited to the community in whatever state of disrepair and completely vacant than anything else.
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I agree. There’s a lot of “process” that I think most people don’t care to dive into. What’s visible to most is when the house starts to come down and then people get upset, blame developers. I too would love to see it renovated and re-purposed but I choose to believe that the closing of one chapter is the opening of another. If the family who owns it chose not to preserve the house, and it’s their house, I mean yeah, what else can we do?
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There is a concept of “demolition by neglect”, but I don’t know if it applies outside of historic districts.
The sale is already pending, wow that was fast. This clearly got someone’s attention.
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**or the city 
Affordable rent apartments or duplexes named Ligon Apartments or something like that might be as much as we can hope for.
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I meant that they also blame the city. As someone above mentioned they did.
I love those. Like there are literally agenda items that state:
“1.1 Staff has identified a single-family home with historic value and community benefits. Staff recommends demolishing said home in order to remove historic value and break apart our community.”
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There is a post on the Olde Raleigh Facebook page by one of the heirs who says the pending sale is to a buyer who intends to preserve the house. Hopefully this is true. I was looking at the lot today and it seems big enough to keep the house and build around it if zoning permits this.
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That’s fantastic news! I’m curious what their final plans will be, if the developer does decide to fully renovate and sell, they could probably get 6 figures for it. Like you mentioned building more homes on the property, years ago 2 additional homes plus a small store also occupied the property so there’s definitely room. I included pics below, I live down the street and pass this house everyday so it’ll be fun to watch.
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