Quapaw tour heads to Hillcrest

Historic houses will be open for view at 52nd (not quite) annual spring event

The stairway curves gracefully in the Pfeifer-Strauss House.
The stairway curves gracefully in the Pfeifer-Strauss House.

Perched on a hill, bearing a stately stone exterior, expansive front porch and cone-roofed turret, it's a home befitting a family that is indelibly linked to the Little Rock business community's history.

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The Pfeifer-Strauss House was built in 1929 for Samuel B. Strauss and his wife, Eleanor Pfeifer Strauss, granddaughter of the founder of Pfeifer Brothers Department Store in Little Rock. Now owned by Kathryn and Will Griffin, the house will make its second appearance on the Quapaw Quarter Association’s 52nd Spring Tour.

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Understated elegance distinguishes the living room of the Pfeifer-Strauss House, a stop on the Quapaw Quarter Association’s 52nd Spring Tour scheduled for May 7-8. “We have removed a bunch of stuff that wasn’t authentic,” says Kathryn Griffin, who lives in the home with her family. “But sadly, there were a few things that were removed … that I would love to have back,” like the living-room chandelier and the wrought-iron doors that were once in the archway.

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A study area helps to set the serene atmosphere of the Volkmer House.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

The Schackelford House, 319 Midland St., will be featured during the Quapaw Quarter Spring Tour’s Candlelight Tour and Party on May 7.

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The Volkmer House, owned by Nate Coulter, will be a stop on the May 7-8 Quapaw Quarter Association’s 52nd Spring Tour, which features homes in the Hillcrest Historic District.

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Intriguing details come together in a frieze inset over a fireplace in the living room of the Volkmer House.

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

The Foster-Cochran House, 3724 Hill Road

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

The Mayo House, 478 Ridgeway Drive

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Special to the Democrat-Gazette

The Crook House, 516 Ridgeway Drive


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The Pfeifer-Strauss House, at 420 Midland St., was designed by architect Thomas Harding and built in 1929 for Samuel B. Strauss and his wife, Eleanor Pfeifer Strauss, granddaughter of Pfeifer Brothers Department Store founder Joseph Pfeifer. Samuel Strauss served as the store's last president before it was sold to William T. Dillard in 1963.

But for the past 22 years, the 4,300-square-foot house has been home to Kathryn Griffin, who lives there with her husband, Will, and three sons.

"It actually ... is such a well-built house and we have just really gone to great effort to try to keep it, do what's right by it," Griffin says.

The interior of the house is as impressive as its exterior. A step through the imposing front door leads to an expansive foyer bearing a mosaic tile floor. A large archway to the left opens to a sunken living room. Straight ahead is the dining room (with the kitchen beyond) and, to the right, a gracefully curving staircase highlighted by portraits of the Griffins' sons.

"I do just love this house. I just have such a strong feeling for it," Griffin says. "My husband and I both did. We looked for houses for a year. And when we walked in this house, we both knew. We couldn't agree on anything -- and then we walked into this house and we both knew we wanted to be here."

For the second time since the Griffins took ownership, the Pfeifer-Strauss House will be open to the public during the Quapaw Quarter Association's 52nd Spring Tour. The event takes place Saturday and Sunday (May 7 and 8) in Little Rock's Hillcrest Historic District. Other houses, all making their tour debuts, are the Volkmer House, 444 Fairfax Ave.; the Foster-Cochran House, 3724 Hill Road; the Crook House, 516 Ridgeway Drive; and the Mayo House, 478 Ridgeway Drive.

The tour began in 1963 and has been held almost every year since, except for 2005 and 2007.

This is the association's second Hillcrest tour. The last time Hillcrest was featured was in 1997, according to Rhea Roberts, executive director of the association. "We've also done [the tour] in Park Hill (in North Little Rock), Capitol View, and the Centennial Addition," she says.

Back to the past

Griffin and her husband are the fourth owners of the Pfeifer-Strauss House. "We have removed a bunch of stuff that wasn't authentic," she says, standing in a living room whose understated elegance is helped along by antique furniture pieces, a large Persian rug and a Pat Matthews painting of the house over the fireplace. "Sadly, there were a few things that were removed ... that I would love to have back," such as the living-room chandelier and the wrought iron doors that once graced the archway, she adds.

The Griffins did do some updating, however. They redid the kitchen. "It was a kitchen that was made for a family that had help, and we do not -- I'm the help," Griffin says. "So we made it more of a functional kitchen. And that's really where we spend a lot of time, because as big as this house is, there's not a lot of family area."

The biggest challenge presented by the house? Actually, there are 53 of them: Its single-pane, metal-casement, non-energy-efficient windows. "We feel like it would absolutely ruin the look of the house if we replaced them," Griffin says, joking that "we heat and cool most of ... lower Hillcrest." Window shades and blackout window treatments have helped temper the utility bills. Griffin's favorite part of the home is its front porch, where the family spends a lot of time.

Upstairs are three interconnected bedrooms; a suite originally built to accommodate Eleanor Strauss's parents to move into when they got older; and a contrast in bathrooms: one, redone two years ago and featuring 21st-century accoutrements; the other, a pink-and-black tile period bathroom whose 10-gallon-tank-toilet the plumber can't fix. Griffin is preparing to redo that bath, too, but laments the coming loss of its authenticity.

What other areas of the house would she like to tackle? "I think we've neglected the yard," she answers. "That would be ... one thing I would love to do."

Volkmer House

Nate Coulter, the new head of the Central Arkansas Library System, is similarly modest about the state of his lush yard.

Coulter lives in the Volkmer House, a Tudor-style home of more than 4,000 square feet from which he enjoys a scenic view near a three-street intersection. Its porch, too, is large and comfortable, with enough seating to accommodate an intimate party of 15 or so. The porch was the second-biggest selling point of the house for him, Coulter says.

A step through the front door reveals an oblong living room distinguished by Tudor features such as deep wood trim and diamond-paned windows. The focal point is sure to be a tour conversation piece: a raised-relief frieze, set over the living-room fireplace and sporting an image of cherub-like figures, a tent, a campfire with a kettle and a mountain in the background. "It's got some funky stuff on there," Coulter says.

It's Coulter's first time on the tour, but his third house in Hillcrest since coming to Little Rock some three decades ago. He bought the house in June 2002. Its location was its No. 1 selling point. It also helped that the previous owners had already done a lot of work on the house, which is about 90 years old and at one point had been a multi-family dwelling.

"All I [needed to] do was move into it." He did, however, go on to add to the side deck, bring the kitchen up to current standards, enlarge the master bathroom shower, replace the felt membrane under the ceramic roof and add a carport. (The home also has a carriage house that Coulter rents out.)

Coulter, too, has appointed his home with inherited furniture. The second floor of the house has a more contemporary look. Coulter's bedroom steps down into an area he believes was once part of a sleeping porch. To one side is a walk-in closet; to the other, the master bathroom. The "sleeping porch" area also accommodates a bathroom that serves the other bedrooms. A basement includes a den and leads to the carport.

Like Griffin, Coulter finds it hard to picture himself moving.

"My kids are all grown. It's a big house. But I really like Hillcrest ... I'm not opposed to downsizing, but I just don't know where I would go that I would be as happy as I am here."

HomeStyle on 04/30/2016

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