Rocky Ridge Farm Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Laid out in 1927 as Rocky Ridge Farm, this Chapel Hill neighborhood, known locally as Laurel Hill, was planned by botany professor William C. Coker and engineering professor T. Felix Hickerson with roads that follow the contours of the land. The boundary increase adds houses built mainly after 1940 on Laurel Hill Road and the small lanes branching from it, and extends the district's period of significance to 1960. The added homes include brick Colonial Revival houses, Cape Cods, Colonial-style Ranches, and Contemporary Ranches and Split-Levels. Local architects such as George Watts Carr, William Van Sprinkle and Jim Webb designed several of them. The 1954 Julian House on Ledge Lane, by George Matsumoto, is a landmark International Style design whose construction was delayed by a lawsuit over design covenants that reached the state Supreme Court. Many original owners were University of North Carolina faculty and coaches. Most additions to the houses are small, so the post-war phase remains largely intact.