Detail. That's what makes this elegant North Carolina mid-century home a pure standout
Everyone recognizes the name Winston-Salem. The North Carolina city rose to worldwide attention after America’s biggest tobacco company opened its doors here in the middle of the 19th century. In fact, the company imported so much Turkish tobacco and cigarette paper from France that, despite its inland location, the city was designated an official U.S. “port.”
The place became even more top of mind after the company launched two popular cigarette brands, Winston and Salem. That was in the mid 20th century, right around the time the city started to shift from being solely a tobacco town to a liveable, educational and cultural enclave.
Among the lavish homes being built in the city’s wealthy neighborhoods at the time, one stands out for its style, its durability and its owner. It’s now on the market for $1,975.000.
Albert Butler Jr, a powerful force in local philanthropy and the development of Winston-Salem, sat on the board of the food and tobacco conglomerate RJR Nabisco. In the 1960s, Butler wanted a home suitable for raising his family and elegant enough for hosting top-tier colleagues and charity events. He tapped Florida architect Byron Simonson, known for designing the Colony Hotel in Palm Beach, a pink wedding cake of a building that still stands today.
For this project, Simonson veered away from the grand revival styles found elsewhere about town, disposing with towering columns, ornamental pedestals and other faux hallmarks of grandeur. Instead he created a notable midcentury modern home that represented a true departure in design.
A tranquil koi pond reflects the quiet atmosphere at this mid-century home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Mitchell Forbes Global Properties)
“He was brought here by the original owners to build something no one had ever seen,” says selling agent John-Mark Mitchell of Mitchell Forbes Global Properties. “It had to be spectacular, because it was going to be so different from everything else in the area.”
It got noticed. Architectural Digest in 1970 ran a photo spread lauding the home for its fresh take on grand living. The design melded “comfortable living and ease of entertainment,” the story said. And it complimented the way the floor plan followed the natural contour of the wooded tract it was built on. “The change of levels provides an easy and informal flow from one area to another.”
The low-slung structure is L-shaped, with six bedrooms on a separate wing and main rooms that flow to a large backyard. Inside, towering ceilings and glass walls with views of the woods create massive light-filled spaces. Every room in the house opens to the outdoors.
Today the custom-built home remains true to its original design, with a few notable upgrades over the decades. (No one really wants a kitchen with a 1960s refrigerator and stove, no matter how authentic you want to be. Pops of contemporary color do that job.)
In the living room, a monumental wall of green marble veined with quartz holds a recessed fireplace. In the octagonal dining room, custom moulding is the sole built-in design element. Midcentury designer Charles Eames once said: “The details are not the details, they make the design.” Very true in this home.
Karen Apple and her husband Val are just the third owners of the property. Apple has taken on the role of the home’s curator, speaking lovingly of the hand-pegged floors, wooden room dividers, double front doors in carved teak, and hand-poured plaster moulding.
When she moved in, says Apple, several of the original workmen stopped by to tell her stories about how the house was made. Her favorite space is what she calls the cocktail room (originally the library), with its built-in designs and proximity to the outdoor patio and koi pond. And it’s not just martinis for two – Apple enjoys entertaining at the home, sometimes hosting events with up to 350 guests.
Though much of the residence embraces an open concept, tucked-away niches, like the formal dining room, emerge at every turn. (Mitchell Forbes Global Properties)
The neighborhood is quiet, with mostly large homes. It’s near the old Reynolds Estate, built by tobacco tycoon R.J. Reynolds and his wife, Katharine, in 1917. Reynolda, as the estate is called, doubled as the couple’s home (60 rooms if you should need them in 34,000 square feet), plus a model farm. Today it’s an art museum.
Apple possesses the original blueprints of the Butler home and has maintained almost every original light fixture throughout. She has also preserved the few things that no longer work (a fire-alarm system and an intercom) – solely because they were part of the original design.
Today, she says, the home looks and feels as modern as when it was built. “We walked in and it was empty,” she said. “I couldn’t get over all the work that went into it. You barely have to decorate. It was built just right.”
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