Listed in Arkansas Register of Historic Places on 12/03/14
SUMMARY
The Heagler House at 904 Skyline Drive is located in the eastern area of North Little Rock’s first suburban development-Park Hill. Begun by real estate developer Justin Matthews in 1922, early construction in Park Hill was largely concentrated in blocks west of the Heagler House site. Construction in the eastern areas of the Park Hill neighborhood was precipitated from a high-end portion of Park Hill, known as “Edgemont in Park Hill,” begun in 1927. Although sparse, a few homes were constructed in those areas east of the Edgemont development, which is the case of the Heagler House. General development of the eastern areas of Park Hill was generally sparse until after World War II, when a nationwide housing shortage was experienced in the Park Hill neighborhood and considerable construction of new houses took place. The Heagler House, constructed in 1929, was one the very few homes built prior the Great Depression when almost all home building came to halt in the Park Hill Neighborhood. However, because of the homes excellent design, the Heagler House is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion C with Local Significance as an excellent example of English Revival architecture in North Little Rock. The English Revival cottage style influence is strongly depicted in the design of the Heagler House with its dark red brick clad walls and steep front-facing gables with pseudo half-timbering. The most distinctive characteristic of the Heagler House is the rustic effect of rough brick edges protruding randomly through the brick walls.
ELABORATION
The Heagler House is located in North Little Rock’s first suburban development, known as Park Hill. The Park Hill development began in 1922, and grew from west to east. Constructed in 1929, the Heagler House was one of only three homes constructed in the 900 block of Skyline Drive
prior to 1940.[1] Mr. Heagler’s job was based on the passage of Act No. 8 of 1928, which called for the authorization of “State aid to municipalities in the paving of streets which are continuations of State highways.”[2] The sparse construction in these easternmost regions of the Park Hill neighborhood development was contemporaneous with developer Justin Matthews’ opening of a high-scale area in the east side of Park Hill in 1927, known as “Edgemont in Park Hill,” located only two blocks to the west of the Heagler House site.
The first owners of the house at 904 Skyline Drive were Arthur and Alma Heagler. Mr. Heagler was a native of Emporia, Kansas. Upon graduating from high school in Emporia, Kansas, Mr. Heagler received his undergraduate degree from the Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois. He then went to study engineering at the University of Arkansas where he met his wife Alma (Martin) Heagler.[3] Following his stay at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, Mr and Mrs. Heagler moved to Paragould, Arkansas, so that Mr. Heagler could help with the family engineering firm of W. R. Heagler and Sons. Mr. and Mrs. Heagler remained in Paragould until 1927,[4] when he began to work for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department as a civil engineer for the Arkansas Highway Commission.[5] Mr. Heagler was the Engineer of State Aid City Paving for the Arkansas Highway Commission when the home was built and purchased in 1929.[6]When the Heaglers bought the lot from the Justin Matthews’ company, Metropolitan Trust, the Heaglers set out to build a wonderful home in this section of Park Hill with the help of Justin Matthews and his company.
Justin Matthews operated a full-service development company, known as Metropolitan Trust. The company offered land and lot sales with financing. An architect, brick mason, civil engineer, and landscape architect were all among the employees of the Metropolitan Trust Company. In having all of the professional fields at his disposal for building homes and selling lots, the firm offered the lots for development and offered full architectural and design services to entice potential buyers into purchasing one of the many unfilled lots in the Park Hill Neighborhood development. Matthews sent staff architect, and architect of the Heagler House, Frank Carmean, to California in the mid-1920s to study and observe new architectural style trends taking places in that state. As a result of Carmean’s trip to California, the Metropolitan Trust Company was able to offer a wider array of architectural design, that some potential buyers considered trend setting in central Arkansas at the time.
The design of the Heagler House at 904 Skyline Drive is clearly derived from the romantic period styles which became popular in the late 1920s. English Revival in character, the house features steep front-facing gables with patterned brickwork and pseudo half-timbering, and decorative English Revival/Tudor Revival style octagonal chimney pots. Yet, the most distinctive characteristic of the home is its brickwork. The dark red brick veneer covers the exterior walls and features randomly protruding rusticated bricks throughout the exterior walls. This is really noticeable in the front-facing gables on the north elevation where this decorative brickwork is featured between the gable ends. Though there are really six principal subtypes of cladding found on this style of home during this period, the brick veneered subtype is the most common among the six. “Walls of solid brick masonry were sometimes used on landmark examples early in this century, but brick became the preferred wall finish for even the most modest …cottages after masonry veneering became widespread in the 1920s.”[7]
Though the earliest American houses in this style date from the late 19th Century, many of them were closely copied models of English homes with Renaissance detailing that was far less common than those models found between 1900 and 1920, which were viewed as “less pretentious” examples of English or Tudor Revival architecture.[8] This “less pretentious” model of English or Tudor Revival was more along the style being constructed by architect Frank Carmean for the Heaglers.
However, the details found in the exterior of the home that lend itself to this style of architecture include stucco wall cladding in gables found on the sides and rear of the main house and the gables found within the gable of the garage. The building also contains a front-facing tall chimney with a small amount of pattern work in the middle and at the top of the chimney. It is noted that during this period of time, that the chimney was often found located on a prominent elevation including the front or sides of the home.[9] The chimney also contains octagonal chimney pots which are found on the English Revival or Tudor Revival style of architecture during this period.
The Heagler family lost the house due to unpaid taxes in 1934, following the onset of the Great Depression in October 1929. Though the Heaglers were able to hold on to the house, they were unable to make the payments for the house by 1934. This was not unusual in the Park Hill neighborhood, particularly with the more expensive homes constructed in the late 1920s. What is known is that by 1931, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department was struggling to make their annual budget and the State Aid for Municipal Paving was one of the hardest hit sections of the department. In October 1931 the state highway department was unable to pay its one-half of the remaining bonded indebtedness of paving districts and that the paving districts would have to levy sufficient funds to pay for the paving.[10] It is noted the Justin Matthews’ company, the Metropolitan Trust Company purchased the property form the State of Arkansas in 1935, who acquired the home following the unpaid mortgage by the Heaglers.[11] However, from
1935 to 1945, the house was occupied by a series of four families, although according to the abstract, none of the four tenants actually owned the property.
In 1945, the house was purchased by R.E. and Gladys Powell from the Metropolitan Trust Company. R. E. Powell was a self-employed manufacturer of items for the B&P Farm Tool Company. The Powell family lived in the house until 1989 when the house was sold for $161,000. During the forty-four years that the Powells occupied the house, a large addition was constructed on the rear of house (south elevation), and the original garage was converted in to a workshop for Mr. Powell’s tool business.
Though the house has had an addition added to the rear of the home, the English or Tudor characteristics of the home are still visible. The entire tradition of English and Tudor style architecture has been stretched across two centuries in both England and the United States. It is remarkable that this style of architecture has endured as long as it has after being dismissed or nearly ignored by avant-garde architects in both countries.[12] Yet, the nostalgia of the style of architecture continues to resonate with the both home buyers and builders. The trend to Tudor or English styles of architects continues still today in both countries and became very popular again in the early twenty-first century as the style of architecture in new housing developments began to express what is now known a neo-tudor in this latest round of English style of architecture.
Though the variations of this style of architecture are continuing to progress and evolve over the past two centuries, the Heagler House remains an excellent example of the variation of English or Tudor architecture being constructed in the years leading up to the Great Depression. Though the styles of architecture produced following the Great Depression and World War II, this great style of architecture evolved once more and became popular once again in the early twenty-first century. Though the style may fade once again into the backdrop of architectural styles, the likelihood of it evolving once again is almost certain.
Therefore, the Heagler House, which was built in 1929, is being nominated to the Arkansas Register of Historic Places under Criterion Cwith local significance for its significance as an excellent example of an English Revival/ Tudor Revival style of architecture prior to the Great Depression. The Heagler House has an interesting history following this construction in 1929 through the Great Depression of the 1930s and continues through today. The English/Tudor styles of architecture as has had an interesting history as the style wanes for a period of time before reviving the style at a later period. The Heagler House is an example of how the house has remained in between the height of the styles prominence in the United States.The other two buildings were 917 and 940 Skyline Drive. (1929 Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, North Little Rock History Commission, 338.)
Arkansas State Highway Department, “State Aid for Municipal Paving,” Arkansas Highways 6 (September 1929, No.9): 10.
“Obituary: A.E. Heagler, Engineer, is dead at age 84,” University of Arkansas, Special Collections, Herbert Bradley Martin Family Papers (MC963), Box 3, File 8.
“Arthur E. Heagler,” University of Arkansas, Special Collections, Herbert Bradley Martin Family Papers (MC963), Box 3, File.
Park Hill Developer Justin Matthews served on the Arkansas Highway Commission and was instrumental in the Highway Department’s paving of the Arkansas–Missouri Highway which coincidentally was the main access to the Park Hill Neighborhood development. (State of Arkansas, Ninth Biennial Report of the State Highway Commission (Russellville, Arkansas: Russellville Printing Company, 1930),12.)
State of Arkansas, Ninth Biennial Report of the State Highway Commission (Russellville, Arkansas: Russellville Printing Company, 1930), 12.
Virginia McAlester and Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1984), 355.
Ibid, 358.
Ibid, 356.
“State Paving Aid Withdrawn: Highway Department Unable to Pay Half, District Here Informed,” Harrison Daily Times, 3 October 1931.
It seems as though Mr. Heagler remained with the State Highway and Transportation Department off and on through the beginning of World War II.(“Funds Released for Flood Body,” The Camden News, 31 December 1938.)Other sources cited proclaim that Mr. Heagler began working with private engineering firm around Little Rock around 1933. (“Arthur E. Heagler,” University of Arkansas, Special Collections, Herbert Bradley Martin Family Papers (MC963), Box 3, File.)What is known is that during World War II Mr. Heagler worked for the United States Corps of Engineers in Galveston, Texas. Following his time served, he returned to Arkansas and set up a private firm in Pine Bluff which later became the ELlers, Heagler and Reaves, Inc. He retired in 1969. (Ibid.)
Gavin Stamp, “Neo-Tudor and Its Enemies,” Architectural History 49 (2006): 3.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Arkansas State Highway Department. “State Aid for Municipal Paving.” Arkansas Highways 6 (September 1929, No.9): 10.
Stamp, Gavin. “Neo-Tudor and Its Enemies.” Architectural History 49 (2006): 3.
McAlester, Virginia, and Lee McAlester. A Field Guide to American Houses. New York: Alfred Knopf, 1984.
State of Arkansas, Ninth Biennial Report of the State Highway Commission (Russellville, Arkansas: Russellville Printing Company, 1930), 12.
“Arthur E. Heagler,” University of Arkansas, Special Collections, Herbert Bradley Martin Family Papers (MC963), Box 3, File.
“Obituary: A.E. Heagler, Engineer, is dead at age 84,” University of Arkansas, Special Collections, Herbert Bradley Martin Family Papers (MC963), Box 3, File 8.
“State Paving Aid Withdrawn: Highway Department Unable to Pay Half, District Here Informed,” Harrison Daily Times, 3 October 1931.