Once old and dilapidated, this 1904 home found new life in multimillion-dollar listing (2024)

The kitchen featured green cabinetry, the bathroom had wood paneling and the interior at large felt like a place where the 1970s had never ended. But the bones of the home near Campobello built in 1904 by a prominent local minister and educator were still solid — it just took vision to see the potential within.

The results of the extensive renovation are evident today at 10654 Highway 11 in northern Spartanburg County, where the home built by Rev. I.M. Wingo 120 years ago has been reimagined and listed for $2.35 million. A whitewashing adds a fresh face to the original brick exterior, the 4,300-square-foot interior features design touches like beams and cedar ceilings, and the five bedrooms and four baths have all been coated in a luxurious modern sheen.

The home sits on a 2.66-acre lot, with an adjacent 3 acres also available for purchase. But it’s the two-story home with a handsome colonnaded frontage that steals the show.

“It goes back to making a vision come alive,” said Anew Property Group founder and president Mia Padilla, the listing agent on the home. “I like the idea of changing and elevating mindsets. So I get gratification out of something that was old and sort of dilapidated and seeing it come alive.”

‘An ongoing inspiration’

Padilla, who is in a joint venture agreement with a partner on the property, took on a once-grand home that had clearly seen better days. The most recent occupants, she said, had been an elderly couple in their 80s who enjoyed the rustic setting and the sunsets behind the barn in the backyard but weren’t exactly able to upkeep or modernize the property. Walls were covered in sparkling metallic paint, paneling was everywhere and the laundry room had been turned over to the dog.

But structurally, she said, the home remained relatively sound.

“Some of it had to be shored up — for instance, we reinforced the floating staircase,” Padilla said. “But it was magnificently structurally sound. In any renovation you come across nuances and discoveries, and you tackle those things as they arise.

"While there were some smaller things we worked through, and we had to be mindful of the mechanical systems, there was nothing catastrophic by any means.”

Padilla took a very grassroots approach to the renovation, striking partnerships with local companies like DZN Home of Greenville to obtain many of the materials and furnishings needed, and hiring a crew to hand-whitewash the exterior.

“It had been old red brick and green shutters, which looked massively outdated,” she said. “But rather than completely paint it white, we could respect the old brick with a whitewash. It blends the old with the new, blends the natural elements with the luxury elements.”

That approach was taken throughout the house. The brick exterior and the floors are original, Padilla said, as are some of the home’s 11 fireplaces — which are currently inoperable and exist for aesthetic appeal. But now there are also commercial-grade appliances, custom maple cabinets and porcelain tile flooring in the kitchen. There’s a jet tub in the master suite, and new lighting and paint throughout.

Outside, the sunsets and old barn are still there, now overlooked by an elevated deck and six-sided firepit.

“It was a question of, how do we incorporate the old with the new?” Padilla asked. “What does it look like to take something that was completely outdated and make it modern with character? How do we have a head-nod to the old and also uphold a standard of excellence? So it was kind of an ongoing inspiration.”

String lights and a tiny house

The $2.35 million listing at 10654 Highway 11 in Campobello also includes a tiny house additional dwelling unit with two bedrooms and one bath, the rustic barn, a tobacco shed and garage storage space. With the additional acreage available, the size of the estate could be as large as 5.66 acres — perhaps making it appealing to the equestrian buyers who frequent this northern corner of the Upstate, thanks to the presence of the Tryon International competition facility just across the border.

“It could lend itself to becoming an equestrian property,” Padilla said. “It has that ability. That’s something that could be a point of conversation.”

The restored home, though, stands out on the landscape from the minute you drive through the wrought-iron gates — anchored by whitewashed brick columns, of course. In the evenings, string lights twinkle from the elevated deck and the porch swings hung around the hexagonal firepit. Ready-made for gatherings, the home can now sleep up to 14 people. The sunset over the old barn hasn’t changed, perhaps since Rev. Wingo’s time. But so much around it has.

“I have a platform so people can see what can be done, and perhaps be inspired to do something they never thought possible,” Padilla said. “The gratification comes from embodying an example, of something like this that comes alive.”