Yesterday’s Architeaser featured one of the iron lamps on the Markham Street facade of the Pulaski County Courthouse. They are just one of the numerous elements which decorate that edifice including wrought ron gates and carvings in granite.
Here is today’s Architeaser which is appropriate to showcase during the Year of the Dragon.
The 48th Annual Quapaw Quarter Association Spring Tour takes place this Saturday and Sunday.
P. Allen Smith’s Original Garden Home and the historic YMCA building headline a series of events to be held in conjunction with the Quapaw Quarter Association’s 2012 Spring Tour of Homes this Mother’s Day weekend, May 12-13.
This year’s featured properties fall within an area designated recently as one of the nation’s best places to purchase a historic home by This Old House Magazine. The tour offers participants the opportunity to step inside the restored and renovated homes, stroll through one of the Quapaw Quarter’s charming neighborhoods and meet the locals.
“Judging by the marked increase in real estate activity that we’ve seen in the area this year alone, it’s clear that public perception of the Quapaw Quarter is growing increasingly positive,” said Rhea Roberts, executive director of the Quapaw Quarter Association. “The homes here are architecturally beautiful, the neighborhoods offer quick access to the entire city, and the residents have built tight-knit communities. That’s a rare mix.”
In addition to the garden of P. Allen Smith, who The New York Times tabbed as “The Martha Stewart of the South,” the tour features a handful of privately owned homes along Arch and Gaines Streets, all within walking distance of each other. Among them are the Charles Thompson-designed Croxson House and the recently rehabilitated Boyle House.
Tickets are available for the Mother’s Day weekend festivities, which include the exclusive candlelight tour, then dinner and gala at the Spanish Revival YMCA building on Saturday, as well as the Sunday afternoon tour from 1:00-5:00 p.m.
Proceeds benefit the historic preservation programs of the QQA. For tickets and more information, email mfiser@quapaw.com or call 501-371-0075.
Ticket booths for the Sunday afternoon tour will be located at the intersection of Wright Avenue and Gaines Street, and at the intersection of 21st Street and Arch Street.
SPONSORS
2012 Spring Tour Patrons – Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation
2012 Spring Tour Sponsors – Arkansas Democrat-Gazette * Centennial Bank * Community Bakery * Scott Heffington, Crye-Leike Real Estate * Empress of Little Rock * Ritzen Group, Inc. * Ruebel Funeral Home * Summit Bank * The Villa Marre * Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson Architects
2012 Spring Tour Donors – Arkansas Destinations, Inc. * Ausum Realty * Brad Barnett Insurance Agency * Bray Sheet Metal * Bonnie Montgomery * Boulevard Bread Company * Capital Bar and Grill * Ciao Italian Restaurant * CM Construction, Inc. * Community Bakery * Fresh Market * Grapevine Wines and Spirits * Hortus, Ltd. * Lulav Eatery * Mickey Rigby * Mountain Valley Spring Water * R&E Supply * SBiP’s Restaurant * Stacy Hamilton, Pulaski Heights Realty * The Empty Vase * Tony Curtis Realtors * Tropical Smoothie Café * Waynette Traub
Tuesday’s Architeaser was a lamp on Third Street attached to the old Arkansas Gazette building, which now houses the lower school of the eSTEM school. The lamp can be found on the corner of the building near the alley which runs behind the building.
Here is today’s Architeaser. Made of ornate cast iron, this lamp is one of several along the building.
Douglas A. Blackmon will present the Central Arkansas Library System’s J.N. Heiskell Distinguished Lecture on Friday, May 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the Main Library’s Darragh Center at 100 Rock Street.
Blackmon’s book, Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II, was awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction and was a New York Times bestseller. The book is a searing examination of how the enslavement of African Americans persisted deep into the 20th century, profoundly sculpting current American life. A documentary film based on Slavery by Another Name is scheduled for broadcast on PBS in late 2012.
Blackmon has written extensively over the past 25 years about the American quandary of race-exploring the integration of schools during his childhood in a Mississippi Delta farm town, lost episodes of the Civil Rights movement, and, repeatedly, the dilemma of how a contemporary society should grapple with a troubled past.
The lecture is free and open to the public. A book signing and catered reception will follow the Friday evening lecture. For more information or to RSVP for the lecture, contact lblackwell@cals.org or 918-3029.
The Monday Architeaser featured one of the purple-tinted lamps outside of Little Rock City Hall. These two lamps are located on either side of the main entrance to City Hall on Markham Street.
Here is today’s Architeaser. Though attached to a building which takes up nearly half a city block, this lamp is the only exterior lamp on the edifice.
Creepy, crawly critters will be the name of the game at the Museum of Discovery May 10-12, 2012 as educators host the annual three-day Bug Out! event, providing visitors the opportunity to learn about insects and the world of entomology.
Jane Jones-Schulz, Education & Information Coordinator for the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission, will conduct presentations on tarantulas native to Arkansas and rare and endangered invertebrates that can be seen both in The Natural State and other parts of the United States.
Museum visitors will get to view a live insect collection, learn of the dangers of mosquitoes, the benefits of bees and more. If live bugs aren’t suitable for some, people can build electronic crawlers in the museum’s tinkering studio, and take their “bugbots” home.
The Museum of Discovery has many educational offerings for people of all ages, including three permanent galleries focused on physical, health and earth sciences. The Earth Journeys gallery allows visitors to explore some of our planet’s unique inhabitants, several of which will be highlighted in the three-day event.
Bug Out! Demonstrations and Showtimes:
Thursday, May 10: 10 am; 12 pm; 2 pm
Friday, May 11: 10 am; 12 pm; 2 pm
Saturday, May 12: 11:30 am; 1 pm; 3 pm
Established in 1927, the Museum of Discovery is Little Rock’s oldest museum. Following its 2011 closing and a 10-month renovation, the Museum of Discovery re-opened in January 2012. It is central Arkansas’s leading informal educational resource in areas of science, technology, engineering and math. The museum’s mission is to ignite a passion for science, technology and math in a dynamic, interactive environment.
Yesterday’s Architeaser showed a Gothic styled lamp on the exterior of Little Rock’s Christ Episcopal Church. though this building was not standing at the time, this was the church where Douglas MacArhtur was baptized as an infant.
Here is today’s Architeaser. It is another lamp, but of a more recent architectural style than Gothic. It (and it’s twin) may be the only lamps in Little Rock with purple-tinted glass.
Little Rock Culture Vulture 