University of Arkansas Historic District Listed on National Register of Historic Places

Photo Submitted

Old Main, part of newly designated campus historic district

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas Campus Historic District in Fayetteville is one of eight Arkansas properties that have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of historically significant properties. Frances McSwain, program director for the Arkansas Historic Preservation, announced the listing Tuesday, Oct. 6.

The University of Arkansas Campus Historic District, bordered by Garland Avenue, Maple Street, Arkansas Avenue and Dickson Street, contains buildings dating to 1875. It contains 15 buildings and five landscape areas.

“The Campus Historic District is the historic core of the school, and contains the most cohesive collection of historic buildings on campus,” the National Register nomination says. “From Old Main, constructed in 1875 in the second empire style, through the extensive collection of collegiate gothic buildings built during the 1920s and 1930s, to the international style Fines Arts Center constructed in 1951, the contributing buildings in the district represent a wide range of architectural styles employed in these signature campus buildings over the last 137 years. These buildings also represent the work of accomplished architects, such as Jamieson & Spearl, on the collegiate gothic buildings to Edward Durell Stone and John Williams, who designed the early international style buildings on campus.”

The University of Arkansas applied for the historic district’s designation as part of an ongoing campus preservation master plan. That plan was funded by a $170,000 grant from the Getty Foundation in 2007. The university worked with three consulting firms to prepare the nomination form: Ruby Architects Inc. of North Little Rock; Lord, Aeck and Sargent of Atlanta, Ga., and Ann Arbor, Mich.; and The Jaeger Company of Gainesville, Ga. The application was approved by the Department of Arkansas Heritage before being submitted to the National Register.

“The University of Arkansas is very proud to receive this recognition,” said Chancellor G. David Gearhart. “It is part of our concerted effort to identify, preserve and protect our most valued historic resources on this campus.”