Carraway Award of Merit: Leonard Ryden Burr Real Estate
For its focus on historic homes and buildings, as well as tours and marketing efforts on behalf of properties more than 50 years old.
About the Award
Each year, Preservation North Carolina presents the Gertrude S. Carraway Awards of Merit to individuals and organizations that have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to promoting historic preservation.
The awards have been given since 1975 and are named for the late Dr. Gertrude Carraway of New Bern, a leader in the successful effort to reconstruct the state's colonial capitol, Tryon Palace, in New Bern.
Leonard Ryden Burr, a real estate agency, was founded in 2004 by four professional brokers in Winston-Salem.
Now a growing company with more than 50 agents, the company has a long track record of widespread support for various causes in the community, including the preservation of historic properties.
Each year, the showcases dozens of historic properties through special tours and promotions in publications targeted toward preservation-minded buyers.
Many in the region consider Leonard Ryden Burr the go-to company for selling or marketing a historic home or other property. One recent query on the company website turned up 89 listings that were between 50 and 10 years old, and a dozen that were built more than a century ago.
Michael Ryden, one of the founding partners, was a burgeoning preservationist even before the company was started. He developed a Historic and Classic Properties division at his previous firm — and that was in the 1980s, when not too many buyers were begging to view historic properties with potential for restoration.
In addition to their marketing efforts in Old Salem and throughout area, Michael and his colleagues have been instrumental in the success of adaptive reuse projects, such as Piedmont Leaf Lofts and 851 Condominiums.
And these agents don’t just talk the talk. Many also personally help preserve historic properties by making them their own private residences, including Michael, who lives in a local historic landmark—- the Charles R. Fogle House, and Brooke Burr, who lives in the Historic Buena Vista neighborhood, and Curtis Leonard, a resident of Old Salem.
