West House

Contributors:
Dates:

1935

Location:
Chapel Hill, Orange County
Street Address:

University of North Carolina Campus, Chapel Hill, NC

Status:

No longer standing

Type:

Residential

Note:

Textile magnate Kenneth Tanner commissioned Boyer to design the small, red brick Colonial Revival building as a private dormitory adjoining the campus, to provide housing for his son, Kenneth Jr., and other relatives, plus free housing for a few other “deserving” students. The Raleigh News and Observer of October 20, 1935, reported on the “Perfect House Built for Five University Boys: Kenneth Tanner, Jr. and Four Others Occupy Collegiate Paradise at Hill.” The garden was planned by the illustrious horticulturalist William Lanier Hunt. Among the notable residents was the distinguished historian C. Vann Woodward, one of the initial group of students. West House subsequently served many other purposes for the university. Despite concerted efforts to preserve it, West House was razed in 2006 to make way for new construction.