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Home My WebLink AboutHDC1999-001 Renovations And Alterations To Curran Hall, Description of the jobs, and GraphicRENOVATIONS AND ALTERATIONS TO CURRAN HALL/LITTLE ROCK VISITOR'S CENTER FOR THE CITY OF LITTLE ROCK Located at 615 East Capitol Avenue, the Walters -Curran -Bell house, also known as Curran Hall, stands as one of the few remaining ante-bellum structures left in Little Rock. Curran Hall was constructed in 1842-1843 on Block 1 of Stevenson's Addition by Col. Ebenezer Walters as a wedding present for his young bride, Mary Eliza Starbuck, niece of Mrs. Chester Ashley, Sr. (Chester Ashley was a wealthy, prominent Little Rock citizen.) As originally constructed, Curran Hall was a one-story, Greek Revival house consisting of a center hall plan with two rooms opening off of either side. A hipped roof portico supported by square wooden columns graced the front and a full length porch covered the rear of the building. A two-story detached kitchen sat at the southwest comer of the house and was connected to the back porch by a covered gallery. This structure housed the dining room, pantry, and kitchen on the ground level, two bedrooms and a center hallway on the second floor, and four separate cellars underneath. Another outbuilding was an office that Col. Walters had built in order to oversee the construction of the house. (See sketch of original site plan) The walls of the house are three bricks thick --part of the brick rumored to have been made on site, the rest purchased locally. Following the untimely death of Col. Walters' wife in July, 1843, construction ceased on the virtually completed house (only small finishing details on the interior remained to be completed). Devastated by his wife's death, Col. Walters soon left Little Rock selling the house and property to Mr. David J. Baldwin, a local attorney. Mr. Baldwin kept the property until 1849 when he sold it to Mr. James M. Curran as a family home. In 1853 Mr. Curran died leaving the house and property to his widow, Sophia Fulton Curran, and his three young children. Mrs. Curran married Judge George Claiborne Watkins (her late husband's law partner) a few years later. During their tenure a two room frame servant's house was built south of the kitchen, an addition was added to the office building, and a detached two-story frame addition containing four bedrooms was constructed to the east of the main house and attached to the rear porch by a covered gallery. (This addition was removed by James Curran, Jr., and moved to another piece of property when he inherited his share of his father's estate. Alice Curran, daughter of James and Sophia Fulton Curran inherited Curran Hall and the property it sat on.) In 1881 Alice Curran and her husband, Francis E. Conway, sold the property to Mr. Jacob Hermann Froelich, who served as Secretary of State. In 1884 Mrs. Mary Eliza Bell purchased the house and property from Mr. Froelich and set about making alterations to the house which account for its current floor plan and general appearance today. The changes made by Mrs. Bell included: *Demolition of the detached two-story kitchen *Moving the servants house and attaching it to the southwest corner of the rear porch for a kitchen and summer kitchen. *Removing the addition from the office building and moving the office and attaching it to the southeast corner of the rear porch to make a bedroom for herself and an indoor bathroom. *Closing off the two east fireplaces and the southwest fireplace and removing the chimneys to below the roof line. *Adding windows to the west walls of the northwest and southwest parlors, converting a window in the south wall of the southwest parlor into a door, and adding two windows to the east wall of the northeast bedroom and one window to the east wall of the southeast bedroom. (The only original window in either the east or west walls was in the southeast corner of the southeast bedroom.) (See sketch) Mrs. Bell died intestate in 1911 leaving the house and remaining property to her daughters: Eva (Mrs. Francis B. Reynolds), Hatty (Mrs. David C. Walt), and Fanny. During this period the front porch was altered by removing the front columns and replacing them with short square columns on brick piers. Fanny Bell ultimately became sole owner of the property and at her death left it to her niece, Averell Reynolds Tate and her children, Joan and Fred Tate. The City of Little Rock acquired Curran Hall in 1996 in order to preserve and restore it for use as a visitor's information center. By the time the City purchased Curran Hall it had become seriously deteriorated, with the east wall having collapsed in the early 1990's, bad roof leaks, problems with the foundation, the west wall beginning to bulge, the entire structure starting to rack to the southeast and the roof structure becoming unstable. Emergency measures were taken to shore up the east wall and roof to prevent further collapse. In 1997 Witsell Evans & Rasco was hired by the City to oversee the renovation and stabilization of Curran Hall. Because of lack of funding for the project, the renovation/stabilization will have to be completed in phases --Phase I being the stabilization and rebuilding of the east wall and northeast corner of the north wall. In Phase I the original brick foundation of the collapsed walls will be removed and a new reinforced concrete foundation will be installed to support the new brick walls. The new foundation will extend to a depth of four feet below grade in order to rest on a stable strata and will be waterproofed to prevent moisture infiltration. (The original foundation only extended two and a half feet below grade and rested on unstable ground which allowed for shifting, and ultimate failure.) The new masonry walls (three bricks thick to conform to the original wall) will be built from historic salvaged brick matching the size and texture of the original brick. The openings for the windows will be constructed and filled in with plywood until funds are available to restore the windows. A foundation for the fireplaces will also be constructed in anticipation of their future restoration. Two foundation openings will be left in the east wall for access for future installation of heating and air conditioning ductwork. Upon installation of the mechanical systems, the access openings will be bricked in to match the rest of the wall. The restoration of the northeast corner of the north wall presents a unique challenge in that the face brick is unusually oversized with very crisp, clean edges. So far we have been unsuccessful in locating matching brick locally; however, we are in the process of searching for a source nationally. Until matching brick is found, the face course will be left off of the northeast comer The condition of the structure and the continuing deterioration necessitates the need to complete the other phases as quickly as possible. The bulging West wall, the failing foundation, the racking of the structure, and the new holes which have developed in the roof seriously endanger this important historic structure. i •� i • T 1 ' 1 CURRAN HALL - PHASE II _ Estimate to stabalize and meet minimum life safety codes_ Little Rock Arkansas ITEM DESCRIPTION 1 � DEMOLITION a Remove unused structures b Remove existing foundations is Remove west masonry wall d Remove concrete front porch 2 iEXCAVATION a Hand dig new concrete foundations 3 'CONCRETE COMPLETE a Footing concrete b Reinforcing Bars 4 MASONRY a Reconstruct west wall b Front & rear porch foundations c Tuck ointina d Relaying top two courses e New masonry piers and concrete pads 5 MISC. METALS a Lintels b Foundation vents 6 WOOD FRAMING a Shoring for west wall reconstruction b New wood ent steps c Existing roof decking and rafter repair / alterations d Floor joist repair and replacement 7 MILLWORK a Porch Floors b Porch Columns c Exterior trim 8 'ROOFING & SHEETMETAL ;a Remove existing composition shin les Ib New copper flashing c New wood shin les 9 PAINTING a Exterior wood and masonry ib Porch floors 10 1 Electrical a Electrical service to building 'b Minimum fire / smoke & security protection astern c Telephone service for alarms stem