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Local figure

James M. Webb

James M. (Jim) Webb (1908–2000) came to Chapel Hill in 1947 to help start the university's graduate program in city and regional planning and led his own architecture firm there until his death. In its first decade the firm, at first with his brother John, designed about fifty modernist houses, mostly in Chapel Hill and Durham.

Source: NCSU Libraries, North Carolina Architects and Builders: Webb, James M. (1908-2000)

Also found in catalogs as Jim Webb.

Orange County Indexed has not yet linked an indexed work directly to James M. Webb. The biography and the dated events on this page provide sources about James M. Webb’s life and work. If you know a useful source, tell us.

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Life and Orange County connections

Dated events connected with this person, earliest first. See these 25 dated events in the chronology →

  1. Architect James Webb moves to Chapel Hill to help start UNC's planning program James Webb, an architect and planner trained at Berkeley and MIT who had worked for William Wurster, came to Chapel Hill in 1947 to help John Parker set up the university's program in city and regional planning. He taught there until 1975 and kept a private practice that brought San Francisco Bay area modernism to the town. People: James M. Webb, John A. ParkerSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 80
  2. Architect James Webb designs a modernist house on Round Hill Road for Norman Eliason One of Webb's first Chapel Hill commissions was a modest low-gabled house for English professor Norman Eliason and his wife, with a broad carport at the front and a covered walk leading to the door. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 81
  3. Jim Webb designs a house on Dogwood Drive for Thomas and Margaret Stanback NCModernist lists the Thomas M. and Margaret Lide Stanback House at 531 Dogwood Drive, dated 1948, as Jim Webb's design in collaboration with Larry Enersen, citing Dail Dixon. Webb had come to UNC's planning school the year before.Search the index · NCModernist: Jim and John Webb
  4. Jim and John Webb design the Spearman house, the first of their Whitehead Circle houses The Webb firm designed a house at 418 Whitehead Circle for Walter Spearman of the UNC School of Journalism and his wife Mary, placed around a large rock that juts from the site. It was the first of five houses the brothers designed on the street. People: Walter Spearman, James M. WebbSearch the index · NCSU Libraries, North Carolina Architects and Builders: Webb, James M. (1908-2000)
  5. Jim and John Webb open their office in the old Methodist church on Rosemary Street The brothers opened a planning and architecture practice in the left side of the 1853 Methodist church at Rosemary and Henderson streets, which had been used as a garage. In the early 1970s they bought the building and turned all of it into offices. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · National Register: Chapel Hill Historic District Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation (2015)
  6. James Webb designs a house on Dogwood Drive for Kenneth and Frances Brinkhous Architect James Webb designed a one-story Contemporary house with wood-shingled walls, deep eaves and a walkout basement on a steep lot at 524 Dogwood Drive for pathologist Kenneth Brinkhous and his wife Frances. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: West Chapel Hill Historic District (Boundary Increase), National Register nomination (OR2769, 2019), Section 7 p. 27 · Also: Chapel Hill News Leader, April 4, 1955, p. 4
  7. Jim and John Webb design a house on Stagecoach Road for Earl Wynn The brothers designed a long house set at an angle to the road at 900 Stagecoach Road for Earl Wynn, head of UNC's radio, motion picture and television department, with low overhanging gables, a central clerestory, vertical pine siding and bands of windows. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · NCSU Libraries, North Carolina Architects and Builders: Webb, James M. (1908-2000)
  8. The Webb brothers design a Whitehead Circle house for Bill and Ida Friday In the early 1950s James and John Webb designed a group of similar Bay area style houses on Whitehead Circle for young faculty families. The one built for William and Ida Friday at 412 Whitehead Circle is a long, plain rectangle whose translucent back wall looks out into the woods. People: William C. Friday, John B. Webb, James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 81
  9. James Webb designs a house on Whitehead Circle for Joseph and Pearl Morrison Architect James Webb designed a modern house at 407 Whitehead Circle for Joseph L. Morrison, a member of the university's journalism faculty, and his wife Pearl. The Morrisons lived there for more than fifty years; the house was sold in 2010. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Modernist Houses: James Webb, 'The Joseph and Pearl P. Morrison House' (1951) · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, October 2, 1953, p. 7; Chapel Hill Weekly, August 3, 1951, p. 9
  10. Albert and Gladys Coates move into their own house on Hooper Lane In 1947 the couple bought a lot on Hooper Lane in what had been the back garden of Edward Kidder Graham's house. Coates rejected a contemporary design by architects Jim and John Webb, the house went up as a two-story Georgian, and they moved in about the time the Gardner Award money arrived. People: Gladys Hall Coates, John B. Webb, James M. WebbSearch the index · Howard E. Covington Jr., The Good Government Man: Albert Coates and the Early Years of the Institute of Government (2018), p. 220
  11. Architect John B. Webb joins his brother James in Chapel Hill John B. Webb, also Berkeley-trained and shaped by William Wurster, practiced alongside his brother in Chapel Hill from 1952 to 1957. The two are credited with bringing the regional modernism of the San Francisco Bay area to the town. People: John B. Webb, James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 81
  12. Jim Webb designs a Contemporary house on Laurel Hill Road for psychologists Louis and Thelma Thurstone The low L-shaped house has vertical wood siding, a hipped roof with wide eaves and a carport joined by a screen porch; Ellington & Sparrow built it. Webb counted it among his firm's best work. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation, National Register nomination (OR1748), p. 23
Show all 25 dated events
  1. The Webb brothers design a house on Whitehead Circle for Alex and Betty McMahon James M. Webb and John B. Webb Associates designed the house at 419 Whitehead Circle for J. Alex and Betty W. McMahon. Like many of the brothers' houses, it is long and low under flat roofs set at different heights, with a privacy wall and small windows on the street side and big windows looking into the woods at the back. People: John B. WebbSearch the index · NCSU Libraries, North Carolina Architects and Builders: Webb, James M. (1908-2000)
  2. The Webb brothers build a small two-level house for Ruth Price in Westwood University instructor Ruth Price, on a tight budget, hired James and John Webb in 1953 to build her house at 4 Briar Bridge Lane, a steep corner lot in the older Westwood subdivision. The book ranks it among the smallest and best of the Webb houses; its main floor centers on a skylit living room with a built-in study nook. People: John B. Webb, James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 81
  3. A Modernist split-level with a butterfly roof is built on Fern Lane for Thomas H. Darden The post-and-beam house has clerestory windows, vertical wood siding and a flat-roofed carport. Oral tradition credits the design to Jim Webb. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation, National Register nomination (OR1748), p. 10
  4. Don Stewart becomes James Webb's partner in City Planning and Architecture Associates Don Stewart, an Ohio native, worked for James Webb while studying planning at UNC. Once licensed in 1956 he became Webb's partner, and the practice was renamed City Planning and Architecture Associates; Stewart brought Frank Lloyd Wright's organic ideas to its Chapel Hill houses. People: Don Stewart, James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 87
  5. The Webb brothers design core-plan houses for the Highland Woods cooperative Highland Woods, south of Memorial Hospital, was organized as a cooperative subdivision by a group of young faculty families, and in 1956 James and John Webb designed its houses around two cores, one for the living areas and kitchen and one for the bedrooms. The book likens it to Six Moon Hill, a Massachusetts cooperative laid out by Walter Gropius's Architects Collaborative in 1948. People: John B. Webb, James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 82
  6. A Webb-designed house is built for Bob and Josie Stipe in Highland Woods The Stipe House at 1022 Highland Woods, built in 1957, sets a post-and-beam frame living floor over a masonry lower level on a lot that slopes sideways to the street, with the kitchen at the front open to the living room. The book uses it as its model modernist house and says it cost about $10 a square foot, against $12 to $15 for a traditional house. People: John B. Webb, James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 82
  7. Dr. John T. Sessions and his wife build a Webb and Stewart house on Morgan Creek Road A split-level modern house designed by James Webb and Don Stewart was built for Dr. John T. Sessions and his wife in Morgan Creek Hills. It was on the School Art Guild tour of homes in the fall of 1958. People: Don Stewart, James M. WebbSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, October 16, 1958, p. 3
  8. Jim Webb designs a Contemporary Ranch on Pine Lane as a retirement home for Fred and Josephine Weedon Ellington & Sparrow built the open-plan house on a slope with an exposed basement at the back. The Weedons' daughter Josie and her husband, preservationist Bob Stipe, later lived there for many years. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · NC State Historic Preservation Office: Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District Boundary Increase and Additional Documentation, National Register nomination (OR1748), p. 13
  9. Pediatrician Judson Van Wyk builds a house in the Highland Woods cooperative Dr. Judson J. Van Wyk, a pediatrician and a member of the faculty cooperative that bought the Highland Woods tract, planned in December 1956 to start building on his lot there. By September 1957 the town had issued permits for nine Highland Woods houses designed by architect James M. Webb. People: James M. WebbSearch the index · DigitalNC: Chapel Hill Weekly, December 18, 1956, p. 10 · Also: Chapel Hill Weekly, September 27, 1957, p. 1
  10. Engineer Bob Anderson joins City Planning and Architecture Associates Engineer Bob Anderson joined the Webb and Stewart firm in 1958 and later became Stewart's partner. People: Don Stewart, James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 87
  11. Stewart and Anderson build a new office on Estes Drive as Webb stays in the old Methodist church In the mid-1960s Don Stewart and Bob Anderson bought a lot on Estes Drive and built a new office for the firm, while James Webb returned to the old Methodist church on Rosemary Street, the firm's former office, where he worked until he retired. People: Don Stewart, James M. WebbSearch the index · NC Digital Collections: M. Ruth Little, The Town and Gown Architecture of Chapel Hill, 1795-1975 (2004), p. 87
  12. Jim Webb leaves City Planning and Architectural Associates and practices on his own Webb withdrew from City Planning and Architectural Associates, the name his firm had used since about 1960, and set up practice again as James M. Webb, AIA and AICP.Search the index · NCSU Libraries, North Carolina Architects and Builders: Webb, James M. (1908-2000)
  13. Jim Webb dies and his Briar Bridge Lane house passes to an estate supporting UNC's planning school Webb designed the Ruth Price House at 4 Briar Bridge Lane in 1953 and bought it in 1979. He lived there until he died in 2000, after which it went to his estate, which he had set up to benefit the UNC planning school.Search the index · NCModernist: Jim and John Webb

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Map tiles © OpenStreetMap contributors. Site locations from the N.C. State Historic Preservation Office survey, Open Orange and OpenStreetMap; town and community pins mark the middle of their mapped buildings.

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