Unless a buyer comes forward who appreciates its historic value and can see past years of neglect, the mid-century modern Fleishman house at 2614 Morganton Road in Fayetteville, NC, will be demolished.

Vacant for at least four years, the house is now listed for sale as a teardown.

North Carolina Modernist Houses (NCMH), the award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to documenting, preserving, and promoting Modernist residential design from the 1940s to today, is issuing a national alert to help save the 2801-square-foot house that architect Edward Loewenstein designed for Ruth and A.M. Fleishman in 1951. At its own expense, NCMH commissioned an inspection report.

“The house has suffered deterioration, of course,” said NCMH director George Smart, “but it is recoverable. The inspection report clearly states that a good contractor could make all of the repairs. Nothing is beyond hope at this time. With the right buyer, this house could be saved and become another stellar example of mid-century Modernist design. We’re hoping he or she will keep North Carolina from losing another of these architectural gems.”

The Fleishman house is a bi-level brick home with three bedrooms, two and a half baths, two fireplaces, a sunroom, an enclosed porch, a stone patio, and a carport. Beneath the sweeping butterfly roof are large expanses of glass that open the interior to the outdoors, which is typical for mid-century Modern houses. Also typical is the open floor plan and reappearance of exterior materials on the interior. Outside, brick retaining walls form planters in the landscape.

The architect contributes to the house’s value. Originally from Chicago, Edward Loewenstein joined Robert A. Atkinson Jr. in Greensboro to form Loewenstein-Atkinson. The firm’s work was featured in the New York Times, Architectural Record, Good Housekeeping, and Southern Architect, among many other publications. Loewenstein-Atkinson was also the first white architecture firm in North Carolina to hire black architects.

NCMH has helped save many mid-20th-century Modernist houses in North Carolina by maintaining free listings of available homes on its website, by working with the owners to make sure their selling prices aren’t unrealistic, and by paying to have appraisals, inspections, and other reports ready for potential buyers. The Fleishman house’s documents, including a link to the MLS listing, are available at http://ncmodernist.org/forsale.