Fayetteville tourism commissioners consider art school's time at historic home

File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Walker-Stone House is in downtown Fayetteville. University of Arkansas School of Art students held a three-month residency at the 170-year-old house at 207 W. Center St.
File photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/DAVID GOTTSCHALK Walker-Stone House is in downtown Fayetteville. University of Arkansas School of Art students held a three-month residency at the 170-year-old house at 207 W. Center St.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Having a gallery and workspace at a historic building next to the downtown square helped art students and faculty establish a connection with the community, tourism commissioners heard Monday.

University of Arkansas School of Art students held a three-month residency at the 170-year-old Walker-Stone House at 207 W. Center St. Jeannie Hulen, associate dean of fine arts at Fulbright College, showed the Advertising and Promotion Commission slides from the school's time from March through the end of last month.

Walker-Stone House

David Walker, born in Kentucky, arrived in Fayetteville in 1830 and began practicing law. Walker built the two-story, 6,000-square-foot brick house at 207 W. Center St. in 1847. He later sold the house to prominent merchant Stephen K. Stone. A Confederate cannonball crashed through a bedroom wall during the Civil War while the Stone family lived there, but the house remained standing.

Source: Staff Report

The university is in the middle of building an art and design district near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Hill Avenue. Charitable gifts last year from the Walton Family Charitable Support Foundation and Windgate Charitable Foundation helped establish the School of Art and the district.

Even with all that's planned, keeping a presence at the Walker-Stone House next fall will help the school achieve its goals, Hulen said.

"This is a way that we can start some of these outward-facing, public-related community projects," she said.

Logistics for a renovation at the house will have to be worked out first, said Molly Rawn, executive director of the city's tourism bureau, Experience Fayetteville. The commission is the governing body over the bureau and will have final say on any future or long-term tenants.

Commissioners approved $225,000 in the budget this year for various touch-ups to the structure to make it more more appropriate for public view. Work includes plumbing, air-conditioning and Americans with Disabilities Act-related improvement.

It will probably be mid-July at the earliest for renovation to start, Rawn said. Bids open for contractors today.

Rawn said having the art students at the house seemed to integrate well with other goings-ons such as the Farmers' Market.

"Having something in that location can slowly start to connect with what's happening on the square closer down to Dickson Street," she said.

Hulen anticipated being able to move into new facilities at the art and design district by July 2021. The School of Art will have about 150,000 square feet of space in which to operate, with architecture students having about 20,000 square feet, she said. The number of buildings has not been finalized.

Right now, art students are spread over campus and in parts of downtown, Hulen said. Response and turnout at the Walker-Stone space was overwhelmingly positive, she said.

The art students were easy tenants to have and utilities were paid, Rawn said. She expressed eagerness at getting a timeline worked out so students can return to the house next fall.

Commissioner Matt Behrend said he was glad to see the positive energy and activity in the house.

"If you're activating the space and using it, and we find that we can move around that schedule, it would be nice to see everyone happy in that situation," he said.

In other business, the commission awarded a $95,278 contract to DC Sparks Construction in Fayetteville to make improvements to the Town Center. The work will create more space at the center to lease for events, among other improvements.

NW News on 06/19/2018

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