William C. and Ida Friday House
1953
412 Whitehead Circle
Standing
Residential
M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1795-1975 (2006)
When William Friday was Dean of Student Affairs at UNC, long before he became the nationally renowned, longtime president of the university, he and his wife commissioned Jim and John Webb to design their first house in Chapel Hill. In a 2004 interview with Claudia Brown and Diane Lea, Bill Friday extolled the long hours the Webbs devoted to meeting with him and Ida, discussing and amending the plans. He appreciated that the team listened to the client. When Ida told them, “No drapes,” they worked with her to create a house that had plenty of light and was open to the outside. “The back wall of the house was opened up with glass to provide a view of the woods,” said Friday, “and the windows and the open floor plan enhanced the sense of space.” Friday continued, “The Webbs listened, and it was fun to work with them; they never turned off their imagination.”