Friday House
Arlington, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In 1923, Marion and Willie Maybelle Friday purchased 112.5 acres including this site on which to build a home and pursue their love of farming. Mr. Friday was a civil engineer who built waterways and sewer systems in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and other small Texas cities. The Fridays sold the house in 1937 to the Cox family, who sold it in 1946 to the Young family. The Youngs owned the property for fifty years. An excellent example of a brick foursquare plan, the structure is a hybrid of strong prairie school and classical influences. Prairie school characteristics include the hipped roof, wraparound porch, overhanding eaves and porte cochere with balustrade above. Classical features include the porch columns and broken pediment front entryway. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Marion and Willie Maybelle Friday bought 112.5 acres here in 1923 to build a home and farm, though Marion made his living as a civil engineer laying out waterways and sewer systems for Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, and other growing Texas towns. The brick foursquare house they left behind blends Prairie School touches — a hipped roof, wraparound porch, deep eaves, and a porte cochere — with classical columns and a broken-pediment entry. It passed through the Cox and Young families over the following decades.
Why it matters
The house pairs a builder of early Texas municipal infrastructure with an architectural style that marked the modernizing tastes of the 1920s, capturing a moment when the region was rapidly urbanizing.
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Related people
- · Marion Friday
- · Willie Maybelle Friday
Themes & tags
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