Monthly Archives: December 2015

Little Rock Look Back: Little Rock votes to Restore Robinson

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On Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2013, voters of Little Rock overwhelmingly chose to renovate the historic Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium.

By a vote of 5,183 For and 1,800 Against, Little Rock citizens approved a plan to use a portion of the city’s existing 2 percent restaurant and hotel tax to repay bonds for a renovation of Robinson Center.  The campaign was chaired by businessman Charles Stewart, restaurateur Capi Peck and former LR Mayor Jim Dailey.

Robinson has long been a landmark in central Arkansas. Construction of the Joseph T. Robinson Memorial Auditorium began in 1938 (after a December 1937 groundbreaking under a deadline) and officially opened February 1940. The structure was a PWA (Public Works Administration) project, and is an excellent example of the Art Deco style architecture of the time. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

The facility is owned by the City of Little Rock and managed by the Little Rock Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The 1940 structure suffered from a wide array of deficiencies, including stage loading and unloading, stage size, acoustical insufficiency, dressing room access and inadequate wing space within the performance hall. Also, structural, mechanical and electrical issues, public circulation and outdated conference center spaces existed within the facility.

Knowing the center is in need of major upgrades if the facility is to continue to serve central Arkansas into the future, the Little Rock Advertising and Promotion Commission (LRA&P) empanelled a Robinson Center Concept Team in October 2011. The group was tasked with evaluating all aspects of the existing facility, researching user needs, proposing conceptual solutions and estimating the cost and construction schedule of the proposed additions and renovations. The concept team was led by Mike Steelman of SCM Architects, PLLC, and included representatives from WD&D Architects, Shuler Shook Theatre Planners, Jaffe-Holden Acoustical Consultants, TME Inc. Mechanical and Electrical Engineers, ECI Inc. Structural Engineers, McClelland Consulting Engineers Inc. Civil Engineers, East Harding Construction, HVS Consulting and Hunt Construction Group.

Additionally, stakeholder and tenant organizations representing the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Celebrity Attractions of Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Double Tree Hotel participated in the planning. The concept team findings were presented publicly on June 5, 2012.

On January 17, 2013 the LRA&P announced the selection of Polk Stanley Wilcox Architects, partnered with Ennead Architects, as the architectural and design team for the future renovations. On March 28, 2013 CDI Contractors LLC, partnered with Hunt Construction Group, were selected by LRA&P as the general contractors and construction managers.

On September 23, 2013 the final schematic renderings and cost estimates were presented publicly. The schematic plans depict major interior upgrades within the performance hall including additional volume to create a two-balcony setup, increased lobby space, acoustical improvements, theatrical upgrades, loading dock expansion, a larger stage area, and new dressing room facilities. Additionally, an enhanced modern ballroom and small conference center was unveiled. New technology, mechanical systems, and outdoor plaza spaces were included in the presentation.

Construction would begin on July 1, 2014, with a completion scheduled for November 2016.

 

MarQuis & MOOD headline tonight’s Oxford American Local Live at South on Main

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llsom marquisTonight (Wednesday, December 9) at 7:30 PM—Join the Oxford American magazine for this week’s Local Live concert at South on Main, featuring MarQuis & MOOD! As always, Local Live is free and open to the public. To guarantee a table/seat for this popular series, call ahead at (501) 244-9660.

 

Marquis Hunt, a.k.a. MarQuis, is a Stellar Award nominated recording artist most noted for his soprano sax ability. MarQuis has performed, written, and produced for Grammy and Dove Award-nominated albums. This Delta-born Arkansas native has gathered to himself a band of musicians called MOOD who together make up over fifty years of combined professional and skillful experience. His brand of jazz is soulful, sultry, spirited, and smooth—guaranteed to pierce the heart of his audience. MarQuis is also a published writer and poet, and he is known to combine elements of spoken word with his live performances.

Celebrate Diego Rivera Birthday by viewing Portrait of Two Women at Arkansas Arts Center

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File:Diego Rivera, 1914, Two Women (Dos Mujeres, portrait of Angelina Beloff and Maria Dolores Bastian ), oil on canvas, 197.5 x 161.3 cm, The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas.jpgOn December 8, 1886, Diego Rivera was born as Diego María de la Concepción Juan Nepomuceno Estanislao de la Rivera y Barrientos Acosta y Rodríguez.

One of his masterpieces is 1914’s Portrait of Two Women which is part of the permanent collection of the Arkansas Arts Center. The official name is Dos Mujeres.  It is a portrait of Angelina Beloff and Maria Dolores Bastian.

This oil on canvas stands six and a half feet tall and five and a half feet wide.

Influenced by cubists such as Picasso, Rivera adopted fracturing of form, use of multiple perspective points, and flattening of the picture plane.  Yet his take on this style of painting is distinctive.  He uses brighter colors and a larger scale than many early cubist pictures. Rivera also features highly textured surfaces executed in a variety of techniques.

The painting was a gift to the Arkansas Arts Center by Abby Rockefeller Mauzé, sister of Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller.

 

Elysse Newman discusses “NEW (OLD) DIRECTIONS IN ARCHITECTURE” tonight at the ADN Lecture

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AN_WENewman_ArchHeadElysse Newman, recently installed as Professor and Head of the Department of Architecture at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design (FJSAD), will be the final 2015 first speaker for the Architecture and Design Network’s lecture series. Her remarks are entitled “NEW (OLD) DIRECTIONS IN ARCHITECTURE.”

Newman will speak tonight at 6pm at the Arkansas Arts Center. A reception at 5:30 will precede the remarks.

She has been tasked with developing a “curriculum for the 21st Century”, one that will prepare students for new, unexpected and increasingly complex challenges likely to be encountered in the practice of architecture. Building on the “old” while incorporating the “new”, much of it research based, is what she and her staff will be doing. FJSAD dean, Peter MacKeith, calls Newman “one of a new generation of architectural educators.”

The focus of Newman’s academic research has been and will continue to be multidisciplinary studies involving the fields of perception, psychology and neuroscience, disciplines whose relationship to architecture is of increasing interest to the profession.

Newman received a Bachelor of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in history, with psychology and anthropology minors, all from the University of Texas at Austin. She also received a Master of Architecture, a Master of Philosophy in history of technology and science, and a Doctorate of Philosophy in architecture, urban design, planning and landscape architecture, all from Harvard University. She has taught at Florida International University since 2011. She previously was a visiting professor at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Tennessee, and a teaching fellow at Harvard University. Newman was a Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.

Architecture and Design Network lectures are free and open to the public. For additional information contact ardenetwork@icloud.com.
Supporters of the non-profit Architecture and Design  Network (ADN) include the Arkansas Arts Center, the Fay Jones School of Architecture, the Central Section of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects and friends in the community.

Little Rock Look Back: Robinson Auditorium Construction Hits Milestone in 1939

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jtrma-bw.jpgMany months behind schedule, it was 76 years ago today that the construction of the Joseph Taylor Robinson Memorial Auditorium was declared “substantially finished.”

On December 8, 1939, the work of the general contractor was complete.  The building’s utilities were all fully connected as the steam line and electric transformer were hooked up.  While the work of the general contractor was through, there was still much work to be done.

Though there were still unfinished portions of the structure, the exterior was complete and finished surfaces had been installed on the interior.  Until the building was officially turned over to the City, the federal Public Works Administration still had to give approval for any uses of the building.

Mayor J. V. Satterfield, Jr. told the press that he wasn’t sure when the City would formally accept the building. The connection of the utilities had used up the remaining funds, so there was uncertainty as to when the final tasks would be completed.

When it was built, Robinson Auditorium was the first municipal auditorium in the south central United States to be air conditioned.  However, the air conditioning unit was not sufficient to cool both the music hall and the convention hall at the same time.  In warm weather months concurrent events would not be able to take place on the two levels.

Winter Wonderland Festivus tonight!

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qqa FestivusThere may not be feats of strength or airing of grievances, but that doesn’t mean the Quapaw Quarter Association won’t be celebrating Festivus!

Festivus is a festival for the best of us.

Festivus attendees will not be required to perform feats of strength, air grievances or decorate the pole.  All they will be required to do is have a fun time and enjoy the opportunity to bid on great auction items.

Hors d’ouevres, Beer, Wine and Signature Cocktail, Live Music by Stuart Baer and Charlotte Taylor, Silent Auction and Wine Pull.

When: Tuesday, December 8 6:00-9:00 p.m.

Where: Kramer School Artists Co-Op

Tickets are $50 at the door.  QQA memberships are also available at the door.  The price includes food and open bar.

Proceeds benefit the preservation programs of the Quapaw Quarter Association.

Little Rock Look Back: The City of Little Rock responds to Pearl Harbor

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Little Rock City Hall in the 1940s

On December 8, 1941, one day after Pearl Harbor was attacked, the Little Rock City Council held a regularly scheduled meeting. While much of the business took place as previously planned, there were two actions that night which were in support of the war effort.

By a motion of Alderman Franklin E. Loy, seconded by Alderman L. L. Stewart, the City Council passed a motion to allow the erection of signage for a new Soldier Service Center which was to be set up in the War Memorial Building (now the Old State House Museum).

The same night, an ordinance was introduced for the City to purchase up to $40,000 in War Bonds. This was referred to the City Attorney to review.

Though the U.S. entry into World War II was only hours old, the City was already responding.

The following week, on December 15, 1941, the City Council discussed a plan to create a Civil Defense Coordinator for the City of Little Rock.  Also, City Clerk H.C. “Sport” Graham reported that City employees had purchased $4,819.50 in Defense Savings Stamps and Bonds. There were also pledges for another approximately $20,000. A payroll deduction plan was being set up.

Over the coming weeks and years, many City employees would enlist or be drafted into the armed services. Victory gardens would be planted by City employees and their families. Rationing would take place. Eventually a USS Little Rock battleship would be commissioned.

There would be much to be done to support the war effort. But in the early days, the City was already taking steps to do its part for the war.