After $200K price cut, Chapel Hill mid-century ‘masterwork’ on sale for $5.2M
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- Mid-century home in Chapel Hill relisted at $5.2M after $200K price cut
- Architect Sumner Winn designed the 7,751-square-foot property
- Listing includes option to buy adjacent lot and nearby 2.8-acre parcel
From the sky, it looks like a giant creature carved from wood: long body with two appendages and a tail, scavenging the forest floor in Chapel Hill’s historic Lake Forest neighborhood.
Then zoom in.
Perched atop one of the town’s highest elevations is a 7,751-square-foot mid-century “masterwork” designed by the renowned Chapel Hill-based architect Sumner Winn.
Built in 1962 and hidden behind a wrought-iron gate, it’s known as the “Peg and Pat Owens” residence at 812 Kenmore Road, about three miles northeast of downtown Chapel Hill. It sits on a sprawling 9.8-acre wooded estate and is a quintessential example of mid-century modern architecture with a southern bent. During the 1970s, Winn designed numerous homes and buildings in the area, but the Owens house and its additions remained his largest project.
After almost 30 years, it’s back on the market. And its current owners reduced the price by $200,000 in late August.
It’s listed for $5.2 million, or about $539 per square foot.
It last sold in 1995 for $929,000, records show.
“Opportunities like this are rare. This one may never come again,” said listing agent Melanie Jones, a Raleigh-based Realtor with Hodge & Kittrell Sotheby’s International. “It’s a piece of Chapel Hill’s legacy.”
The original owner, Pat Owens, developed the Lake Forest neighborhood and died in 1971. The home later sold to Amway Corp. executives Bill and Peggy Britt, who engaged Winn to design several landscape and interior renovations, including multiple additions, according to NCModernist.
Decades later, the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom is like a well-maintained time capsule, embodying the core elements of Winn’s style: clean, minimalist lines, floor-to-ceiling windows, brick mass fireplaces and extended post-and-beam eaves, all connected to its natural surroundings. The stones were even mined on site, the listing says.
Amenities include a private tennis court and tennis house.
The listing agent said there’s also an opportunity to purchase the adjoining property at 820 Kenmore Road for $2.49 million, as well as an additional 2.8 acres on a nearby lot.
George Smart, founder and executive director of NCModernist/USModernist, said it could be challenging to find an individual buyer, given the price tag, acreage and location. He suggested a developer might subdivide the property into smaller, more expensive lots.
“Unfortunately, I suspect that’s what will happen,” he told The N&O on Tuesday.
At the very least, he hopes any future buyer would retain the house as a “central community building” in a nod to the late architect.
With no buyer, it’s too soon to tell if the home is at risk, but Smart is watching closely. “Sumner Winn was a real unsung genius in Chapel Hill’s architecture.”
This story was originally published October 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM with the headline "After $200K price cut, Chapel Hill mid-century ‘masterwork’ on sale for $5.2M."
