517 Front Street

There's a certain kind of street that makes you slow the car down. West Front Street is one of them. Sidewalks that actually go somewhere. Front porches on both sides, close enough that neighbors still wave. This is the Mitchell College Historic District — one of Statesville's most beloved old neighborhoods, and here's your chance to own a newer home in it. 517 West Front Street wears soft seaside green clapboard, crisp white trim, and a deep front porch that runs the full width of the house. The main level opens into one bright, connected room — a great room flowing into dining, dining flowing into kitchen — with rich laminate wood flooring running the whole way through and windows on three sides pulling light across the floor all afternoon. An oak staircase with white spindles rises along one wall, the kind of detail that gives a new house instant gravity. The kitchen anchors it all: white shaker cabinetry, granite countertops, stainless appliances, and a generous center island with the sink and dishwasher tucked in — so whoever's cooking is still in the conversation. Turn around from the island, and you're looking out the dining windows at the front yard. Down the hall: a powder room for guests, a proper walk-in laundry room, and a coat closet that earns its keep. The owner's suite sits privately at the back of the main level — no stairs, no shared walls with the other bedrooms, and windows on two sides overlooking the backyard. The en suite bath does not cut corners: a double granite vanity, a walk-in shower with built-in shelving, a private water closet, and a linen closet. The walk-in closet is genuinely walk-in — shelving on multiple walls, room for two people's wardrobes and then some. Climb the stairs, and you arrive at a study alcove/loft — that flexible, in-between space everyone ends up fighting over. Homework station. Reading nook. Home office. Off the loft, the front bedroom is the showstopper — a full 17 feet across, with three tall windows lined up along the front wall looking out over the front yard. It's a bedroom, a suite, a studio, whatever you decide. Two more generously sized bedrooms sit at the back of the house, each with its own double-door closet and windows framing the side yard. They share a full bath with a double granite vanity. The lot runs nearly 200 feet deep — 0.43 of an acre, with room for a garden, a swing set, a fire pit, a dog with opinions, or an event tent for your Fourth of July party. The kind of backyard that's essentially impossible to find this close to downtown. Out front, the driveway holds multiple cars — so Thanksgiving doesn't turn into a parking negotiation. Historic Downtown Statesville sits about half a mile from the front steps — close enough to walk to dinner. A genuinely walkable stretch of locally owned restaurants, coffee shops, breweries, boutiques, arts, entertainment, and community events, all concentrated within a few blocks. If you want the neighborhood but not the wiring, the plumbing, the windows, the insulation, or the surprises of an old house — 517 West Front Street is the compromise without the compromise. Come see it. Bring a rocking chair.