The Natural State has a great amount of historic buildings that were constructed with meticulous care. The architectural genius behind these structures should be admired by all! Get a look at a few of these Arkansas structures that have been named historic locations!
20. Bryan House
The Bryan House is a historic house at 105 Fayetteville Street in Van Buren. Built in 1886, it's one of the city's finest Queen Anne Victorian houses, with asymmetrical massing, multiple gables, and projecting bay sections, and elaborate exterior decoration. The interior also has well-preserved woodwork, hardware, and other decoration.
19. Girls' Domestic Science and Arts Building
The Girls' Domestic Science and Arts Building in Russellville is a building of the Arkansas Tech University. It was built in 1913 and extensively renovated in 1935. It was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992. It's now known as the Old Art Building. The Public Works Administration provided funds for school construction in January 1934, of which $7,500 was allocated for renovating this building.
18. Boone County Courthouse
The Boone County Courthouse is a historic courthouse on Courthouse Square in Harrison. It is a two story brick structure, designed by noted Arkansas architect Charles L. Thompson and built in 1907. It's Georgian Revival in style, with a hip roof above a course of dentil molding, and bands of cast stone that mark the floor levels of the building. It has a projecting gabled entry section, three bays wide, with brick pilasters separating the center entrance from the flanking windows. The gable end has a dentillated pediment, and has a bullseye window at the center.
17. University of Arkansas Agriculture Building
The Agriculture Building at the University of Arkansas is a building on the University's campus in Fayetteville. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The Agriculture Building and Engineering Building were both built using the same funding from the Arkansas Legislature. Completed in 1927, the Agriculture Building hosted a library and several science departments.
16. Judge Issac C. Parker Federal Buidling
The Judge Isaac C. Parker Federal Building, also known as the Fort Smith U.S. Post Office and Courthouse, located in Fort Smith, was built in 1937 in Classical Revival style. It served historically as a courthouse of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas, and as a post office. It was renamed in 1996 for the famous "hanging judge" Isaac C. Parker, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
15. Joseph Taylor Robinson House
This historic house is located at 2122 Broadway in Little Rock. Built in 1904 for a wealthy lumber merchant, it was the home of Arkansas governor and United States Senator Joseph Taylor Robinson between 1930 and 1937. The Robinson house is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure resting on a foundation of granite and brick. The exterior is sheathed in clapboards, and the roof is steeply pitched with a complex and irregular plan. The porch is decorated with flattened Tudor-style arches and ornamental brackets, and shelters the main entrance, which is under the right gable, and paired windows under the left gable.
14. Blytheville Greyhound Bus Station
The Blytheville Greyhond Bus Station is located at 109 North 5th Street in Blytheville, Arkansas. It's a single-story island-type station with rounded corners, and projecting canopies on either side. The main entrance also has a rounded canopy over it, and a vertical sign rising above, advertising the Greyhound Bus Lines. This station was built by the company c. 1937, when it was undergoing a major expansion campaign.
13. Old Camden Post Office
Photo courtesy of Postmasters Grill
The Old Camden Post Office is a former post office building at 133 Washington Street SW in Camden. The two story Romanesque Revival structure was built in 1895, and is one of the city's finest brick buildings. It was described, shortly after its construction, as the "finest building between Little Rock and Texarkana". It originally housed the post office on the ground floor and the federal land office on the second floor. It is now the Postmasters Grill.
12. Centennial Baptist Church
This historic church is located at the corner of York and Columbia Streets in Helena. The present church building was designed by Henry James Price, a parishioner of the church, and built in 1895. It's a Gothic Revival structure executed in brick, with its main (western) facade consisting of a pair of towers flanking a large central gable. The roofline of the gable is decorated by corbelled brickwork resembling vergeboard.
11. Mississippi County Courthouse
The Mississippi County Courthouse is a courthouse at Poplar Street and Hale Avenue in Osceola,, one of two county seats of Mississippi County, built in 1912. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The courthouse was built in the Classic Revival style by John Gainsford and anchors the Osceola town square.
10. Mildred B Cooper Memorial Chapel
Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel is a chapel located in Bella Vista, designed by E. Fay Jones and constructed in 1988. Similar to Thorncrown Chapel in Eureka Springs, the design recalls the Prairie School of architecture popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright. Jones used steel and glass to create a series of Gothic arches that run the length of the chapel.
9. Mount Olive United Methodist Church
The Mount Olive United Methodist Church is a historic church at Lafayette and Knox Streets in Van Buren. It's a rectangular single-story brick structure with Gothic Revival styling. Its main facade has a large Gothic-arch window below the main roof gable, and a squat square tower to its left, housing the entrance in a Gothic-arched opening. The church was built in 1889 for a congregation that consisted of recently-emancipated African-American former slaves when it was organized in 1869.
8. Thorncrown Chapel
Thorncrown Chapel is a chapel located in Eureka Springs, designed by E. Fay Jones and constructed in 1980. The design utilizes the Prairie School of architecture popularized by Frank Lloyd Wright, with whom Jones had apprenticed.
7. Raymond Munger Memorial Chapel
One of the main landmarks of the University of the Ozarks in Clarksville, is the Raymond Munger Memorial Chapel, erected in 1933. The chapel was built in memory of Raymond Munger, a New York businessman who was known for his interest in religion and education. College students were paid to provide much of the labor for excavation, laying of the foundation and hauling of materials. Munger Chapel, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was designed by architect A.O. Clark. Built of limestone trimmed with Nu-Carth stone, it is of Gothic design and follows general plans used in large cathedrals.
6. Bank of Rogers
The Bank of Rogers Building is a historic commercial building at 114 South 1st Street in Rogers. It's an elegant two story Renaissance Revival structure with a limestone front. The structure has two facades, one of which is set back under a large Roman arch. This arch begins on the first level with square outer pillars and round inner ones. The inner facade has the main entrance under a segmented arch, with a pair of sash windows under a round arch on the second level.
5. Little Rock Central High School
Built in 1927 at a cost of $1.5 million, Little Rock Senior High School with its Gothic Revival style, later to be renamed Little Rock Central High, was hailed as the most expensive, most beautiful, and largest high school in the nation. There are statues of four figures over the front entrance that represent ambition, personality, opportunity, and preparation.
4. Bathhouse Row
Bathhouse Row is a collection of bathhouses, associated buildings, and gardens located at Hot Springs National Park. The bathhouses were included in 1832 when the Federal Government took over four parcels of land to preserve 47 natural hot springs, their mineral waters which lack the sulphur odor of most hot springs, and their area of origin on the lower slopes of Hot Springs Mountain.
3. Old Main
Old Main is the oldest building on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. It's one of the most recognizable symbols of the University (especially to alumni and residents of the state of Arkansas), and of higher education in general in Arkansas. Old Main was constructed between 1873 and 1875. The Second Empire design of the structure was done by architect John Mills Van Osdel and construction was carried out by William Mayes. The original 19th century Corinthian iron columns, featured prominently in almost all photographs of Old Main's wings, remain in place to this day.
2. Old State House
The Old State House, located in downtown Little Rock near the bank of the Arkansas River, is the oldest surviving state capitol building west of the Mississippi River. This Greek Revival style structure, designed by architect Gideon Shyrock, is known best as the site of President Bill Clinton's election night celebration in 1992. During the American Civil War the building was used by Union troops occupying Little Rock. During Reconstruction the building was an object of contention in the so-called Brooks-Baxter War and the building was fortified during that struggle. The "Lady Baxter" cannon still remains on the grounds. The building was used as the official state capitol until the new capitol building was constructed in 1912.
1. Arkansas State Capitol
The Arkansas State Capitol Building, located in Little Rock, is the main house of government of the state of Arkansas. Construction of the Neoclassical structure was overseen by George R. Mann and took 16 years, from 1899 to 1915. The Capitol was built on the site of the state penitentiary and prisoners helped construct the building. As a scale replica of the US capitol, the Capitol has frequently been used as a filming location.
As you can see, these buildings not only have a lot of history behind them but a lot of beauty to look at as well! Arkansas is proud to boast its natural scenic wonders but the state’s architecture is also something to behold.
OnlyInYourState may earn compensation through affiliate links in this article. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.