Strange Abandoned Church, Lonoke

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Here's an artifact of a building I spotted as soon as we drove into town. We stood on the corner for a while, pondering over it. It's in a strange, rambling craftsman/tudor style that I've never seen used on a place of worship. Turns out it's listed on the National Register for Historic Places, and it was built in 1916. More after the jump...

The Rebirth of Argenta

Downtown North Little Rock, 1990s

I've been talking about downtown North Little Rock for a while, so how about the story of its rise from death.

Hello! My Name Is:

A few of the houses in Searcy are important enough to warrant their own name tags. I believe all of them are on the National Register for Historical Places, but these don't represent all of the houses on the Register in Searcy.

Actually, I'm not sure why some of the houses have them and some don't. But I believe this list represents all of the name-plated houses in Searcy. We'll call them the Entitled Seven.


Black House, 1866
Location: East Race, next to Walgreens
Profile: The Black House is Searcy's Art Gallery and one of the oldest homes in town. The last owner of the house before it was turned into a gallery died in the 1980s (at a very old age). Since it's considered one of Searcy's landmarks, the house is kept up very neatly. Unfortunately any environment of historicity around the house has been mostly sapped by development. The ancient and haunted Porter Rodgers house once stood next door, but the family tore it down.


Wilburn House, 1875
Location: E Race, near Midnight Oil
Profile: Most of these houses I don't know anything about except for their names and ages. The Wilburn House is the most forlorn of the Entitled Seven. I have never seen anyone inside or outside. The herringbone brick path fades away before it reaches the sidewalk. A claw of creeper vines choke out the western chimney. But the delicate neoclassical details still stand out under the peeling paint, and the name plate next to the door reminds any curious passerby that the house has relevance to somebody somewhere.


Paschall House, 1877
Location: East Center Street, close to downtown
Profile: This is the stateliest and most austere of the Entitled Seven. When I was shooting this picture, an older black man walked by. "I know that house must have a lot of history," he said. "Look at the five-foot window frames. The old bricks. The stained glass next to the doors." He told me he was from New Orleans and when you live in New Orleans, it doesn't take much to notice if a house has a history. Sadly, neither he nor I knew anything of this house in particular.


Lattimer House, 1895
Location: East Market Avenue, near the Methodist Church
Profile: The rambling Victorian revival style of the Lattimer house makes it the most unusual of our Entitled Seven. The house only looks really good from this angle; the bubbling porches and huge brackets are a little awkward when viewed from other sides. The house is currently home to an abstract company. Fitting considering the nature of the architecture.


Ben Lightle House, 1898
Location: East Market Avenue, across from the Lattimer house.
The Ben Lightle house is one of two of the Entitled Seven associated with the Lightle family, who I believe were influential in Searcy a hundred or so years ago. It's a bizarre house, not quite as odd as the Lattimer house but still gets points for having a second-story door open onto what seems to be a giant telephone booth. My guess is a number of additions have been afforded onto this house since 1898. It must be some sort of guest house or condominium now, since there is a notice on the front door addressed to "All Guest."


Deener House, 1912
Location: East Center Street, near the Paschall house.
Profile: As we ease into the 20th century, we must eventually encounter the Craftsman. I've mentioned this house before, but this picture much better represents it. The Deener house spends most of the year shrouded by the surrounding foliage, but in Spring and Winter, it's one of the largest and most unique bungalows in Searcy.


Lightle House, 1923
Location: East Race Street, across from Sexton.
Profile: The Lightle house, the youngest of the Seven, as a contrast from the Wilburn house (the other of the Seven on Race street) is very well up kept and sits reservedly at the top of an incline. Last I heard, it was home to a Harding professor who has used it as a bed and breakfast. Frankly, I think it as the least remarkable of the Seven. It's very stately but just a little too bland for my tastes.

The main thing I note about the Seven is that they are all within a few blocks of each other: all east of downtown (especially considering there are quite a few old and notable houses west of downtown). But a discussion of the unnamed houses...that's for another time.

-Jonesy

Historic Houses in Searcy

I admit, most of my interest in historic structures lies in industrial or commercial architecture, but I still have a great appreciation for beautiful residential buildings. And one might think that Searcy is sparse in that area. Actually, one would be more or less right, at least in comparison to the rest of the populated world. So appreciating the architecture in Searcy takes a bit more patience with the ruinous nature of its old buildings.



To start off, this is the original Yarnell family home. They currently have a not-too-modest mansion up in the Golf Course district. This home is apparently located on 200 East Center Street, but I am not sure if it still stands. That's a project still to be undertaken.



This is labeled as the "T.J. Trawick Home," but I'm not sure who that is. Observant walkers on Center Street may have seen this house. This picture was taken in 1955; the building still stands today (I will probably take a picture of it later).

The main thing I wanted to talk about today goes back to our old friend the Historical Register. When I printed out that document for White County, I found a huge number of houses listed in Searcy. Jenna and I set out to find as many as we can, and we got burned out pretty quickly. Here's just a sampling of what's on the list.



Unfortunately I have no juicy details about any of the history of these houses, I just know they are registered for whatever reason (most of them under the vague category of "architecture"). But the saddest thing is the inevitable mortality of buildings; even the Register is unable to keep many from being obliterated.



The above are two vacant lots which, according to the Register, once contained houses of some value. Most of the entries on the list were made in the early 90s, which leaves almost 20 years of time for contractors to fold their bills and nod at the bulldozers.

Even Harding isn't innocent of the destruction of historic property. In fact, Harding bulldozed one of their own historic buildings not too long ago. Many of you might remember the old Sears Honors House, which was located more or less where the new Thornton education palace stands. The house was on the register, along with Pattie Cobb Hall and one or two other Harding buildings which thankfully still stand.

Out with the old, in with the new, that's what they say...

-Jonesy