Sandwiching in History Pulaski County Courthouse November 3, 2017
Good afternoon, my name is Mark Christ, and I work for the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. Welcome to the Sandwiching in History tour of the Pulaski County Courthouse, which is actually two distinct buildings. The dueling styles of architecture are directly related to the prevailing styles of architecture being used when these buildings were designed and built twenty-five years apart, thus they are great markers of their respective periods. A caveat: Most of today s lecture is based on a tour Elizabeth Blackwell did for us ten years ago, so all of the credit goes to her. I ll share any blame. I d like to thank County Judge Barry Hyde for allowing us to visit these wonderful buildings. And this tour is worth one hour of HSW continuing education credit through the American Institute of Architects. Please see me after the tour if you re interested. Before I get too far along, the final Sandwiching in History tour of 2017 will visit Little Rock City Hall on December 1.
1889 Courthouse We will start with the 1889 courthouse, which is the top photo in your handout. Pulaski County was founded in 1818 as just one of five counties to have existed when Arkansas was still part of the Missouri Territory. The county was named for Count Casmir Pulaski, a Polish brigadier general who fought in the American Revolution. He died during the war, but has been honored around the country with numerous counties, cities, bridges, and schools bearing his name. You can see a bust of Count Pulaski in the center of the rotunda here, which was created by Sasha Schnittman, who also did the relief figures on the front of War Memorial Stadium. This sculpture used to stand beside the Pulaski County office building just south of here on Broadway. The courthouse that comprises the south part of this building was designed in 1886, when the Old State House was still Arkansas s State Capitol building and this area was not only a center of commerce for the city but also a center of government.
Construction of the building began in 1887 and was completed in 1889. It was designed by a young architect named Max Orlopp. Orlopp is also known in Little Rock for having designed the Hornibrook Mansion or Empress of Little Rock in 1888, just one year before this building. Orlopp was educated at the United States Naval Academy in Maryland. He practiced civil engineering initially, but took up the study of architecture in 1885. If you were keeping track of when I said this building was designed in 1886, then you can do the math and see that he had very little experience in design by the time he conceived this structure. Orlopp practiced architecture in the leading popular styles of his time. The Hornibrook Mansion is designed in the Queen Anne style, and this building trends toward the Romanesque Revival style. Both of these were popular in the late 1800s, which is the Victorian period of design. One thing that most of the styles popular in the Victorian Era shared is an abundance of texture and combination of many design elements, as well as a general lack of symmetry.
This building exhibits a subtype of the Romanesque Revival, called Richardsonian Romanesque, which is named for one of the greatest American architects, Henry Hobson Richardson. Richardson designed in the Romanesque style, but he popularized the use of irregular rough cut stone as the primary exterior wall material. Buildings of this style often count on the changing colors and textures of the wall material to serve as the design of the building without adding a lot of decorative elements. These buildings commonly feature towers, both conical and square clock towers (both of which are visible on this building s exterior). Richardson mainly practiced in the northeast, but his style quickly spread in popularity and was used nationwide. Orlopp didn t stick around in Arkansas. He later moved to Dallas and is credited with the design of many high-profile buildings in Texas and other states in this region. The square clock tower that Orlopp designed on this building was destroyed in a violent storm in 1961, but a movement to restore it began in 1990. The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program provided a $90,000 grant for the project, and much was raised by the legal community that uses the building. It was completed in 1995, when a 200-foot crane lifted the dome into place.
The AHPP also provided a $140,000 grant to repair the slate roof on the 1889 courthouse. When you walk through the 1889 courthouse, look out for such features as the tile and hardwood floors, wooden wainscoting, fine doorframes with bullseye molding, and the elaborate wood and cast-iron railings on the east and west sides.
1914 Courthouse Booming Little Rock soon outgrew the Max Orlopp courthouse, which only has two floors of usable space. The addition was built in 1914 in a completely different style of architecture and was designed by George Richard Mann, who is one of Arkansas s leading early architects. Mann was a native of Indiana, who only arrived in Arkansas when he responded to calls for plans for a new Arkansas State Capitol building in 1900. Mann
served as architect on the Arkansas State Capitol for ten years, but he did not see it through to completion though much of the design reflects his ideas. He was awarded the commission for the addition to the Pulaski County Courthouse in 1912 after having established himself as a prominent architect in Central Arkansas and a master of the Classical Revival style, which we see in this building. George Mann was one of the earliest graduates of the architecture program at MIT in 1876. He later worked for McKim, Mead, and White, which was one of the best- known architectural firms in the country. He picked up many of his skills working with Classical elements during his tenure at McKim, Mead, and White. He left the firm to return to his native Midwest to expand his career and landed in Arkansas after hearing that the state was looking to construct a new capitol building. Mann used his talents in the Classical Revival style to create this addition to the Pulaski County Courthouse. The Classical Revival style became popular in the United States beginning in about 1900. Classical Revival generally refers to buildings that have monumental classical elements such as two
story columns and large pediments. This building falls a bit more into another style category called Beaux Arts Classicism. The Beaux Arts is a bit less common than the Classical Revival because it involves more detailing and often includes the work of artisans. Beaux Arts Classicism was popular from about 1890-1930 and it came out of the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. This architecture program trained many leading architects of this period (including Henry Hobson Richardson, who we mentioned developed the Richardsonian Romanesque style visible on the 1889 courthouse, and Charles McKim of McKim, Mead, and White, Mann s former firm). Features of the Beaux Arts movement that differentiate it from Classical Revival really break down to detailing, particularly sculptural elements. The Ecole des Beaux Arts based much of their teaching on Greek and Roman architecture. They taught proportion and spatial relationships based on what were considered to be perfect forms. However, the detailing of Beaux Arts Classicism generally includes the addition of statues, swags, cartouches, and other sculptural pieces meant to make the buildings
picturesque and enhance the architecture. As a result, additional artists or craftsmen were often employed to create these sculpture pieces and these buildings were very expensive to build. They are nearly always large-scale public buildings and there are very few residential examples of this style. George Mann s training at McKim, Mead, and White certainly contributed to his understanding of the Beaux Arts style and helped in his design for this structure. The elements of the Beaux Arts we can see here are the unadorned first level of the building which is much bulkier than the levels above. This is an example of Classical ordering, or having the first level stand out as the more utilitarian level of the building, then the second and third level are more detailed and finally it is capped with a cornice and balustrade. The symmetry of this building, the pediments above the secondfloor windows, and the tall columns topped by Ionic capitals are all elements of the Classical Revival style, while the sculptures and ornate shield between them reflect the Beaux Arts. See the photo in your handout. The classical order was fully developed in Italy during the Renaissance. Italian Palazzos were ordered this way as the street level was dirty and usually full of shops, animals, people, and noise. Therefore, the bottom level of the building was virtually ignored in terms of design and the higher
levels were the nicer levels for the people who lived there. In this way the exterior design spoke about what was going on inside the building. Construction on this building began in 1913 and was completed a year later. A.O. Campbell was the contractor. Interior: The interior dome was conceived as one of the primary features of the interior of the building. The dome penetrates three floors of the building and all significant spaces and movement paths are planned around it and the building s major entrances are on axis with this feature. The dome is supported at four points, which are embellished with marble Corinthian columns, and perhaps more notably capped with sculptures representing Justice, Machinery, Agriculture and Art.
These sculptures were created by Italian sculptor Giusto Liva (whose photo is in your handout) and his son, Enrico. Enrico and an assistant, Romeo Tartglina, created the statues on the exterior of the building at the flagpole, as well as the decorative keystones in the arches on the first level of the building (also outside). Giusto is credited with these interior sculptures.
Pulaski County is apparently quite lucky to have works by the Liva family. They are credited with other pieces in Italy, Russia, Norway, Sweden, and also in the United States in New York, Washington D.C. and other places. As you walk through the 1914 Pulaski County Courthouse, be sure to watch out for such details as the ornate metal work around the elevators and the marble floors and wainscoting. Finally, I want to mention the Alexander-Butler Rose Gardens, which cover most of the block to the west of the courthouse. The Little Rock Garden Club maintained those gardens for decades until it became too labor intensive for their membership to maintain, and the gardens began to languish between 2010 and 2016. In 2016, Master Gardner Melody Parsley (isn t that a fabulous name for a master gardner?) met with Judge Hyde about some water issues, and after learning she was a gardner, the judge asked if the Pulaski County Master Gardners would take over maintaining the gardens. That relationship became official on February 16, 2016, and the group also unofficially maintains the flagpole garden, four square planters, the area around the fountain, and the brick walkways.
Any Master Gardners attending please raise your hands: They will be happy to answer any questions. Thank you all for joining us today, and remember that the last Sandwiching in History tour of 2017 will be held at Little Rock City Hall on December 1. You can also join us on November 11 for the Walks Through History tour of the Dumas Downtown Historic District and on December 9 for a tour of El Dorado s historic downtown.