Quapaw Quarter Association’s 54th Spring Tour of Homes concentrates on Central High district

Claretha Nelson, retired chief probation officer for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, always loved historic houses. She grew up in an older home among extended family in her native Montgomery, Ala.

She also loves antiques, which she began collecting around 1978. But, she says, "I never could find the right house to place that furniture in."

That is, until she came to own the Maxwell F. Mayer House, a stunning 4,700 square-feet Tudor Revival designed and built from 1922 to 1925 by Maximilian F. Mayer, the noted Little Rock architect. Located at 2016 S. Battery St., the dwelling was originally commissioned by Maxwell F. Mayer (not the architect), president of the Arkansas Building and Loan Association and the head of a large wholesale grocery business in central Arkansas.

That home is among six houses to be featured during the Quapaw Quarter Association's 54th Spring Tour of Homes, scheduled for May 12-13 that highlights Little Rock's Central High School Neighborhood Historic District.

Other houses to be featured are the James H. Penick House, 1623 S. Summit, 1926, owned by Ken Milton; the Martin A. Sharp House, 1422 S. Summit, c. 1899, owned by Angela and Bobby Matthews and Lynn Boyd; the Fredrick A. Garrett House, 1400 S. Schiller, 1910, owned by Morgan and Kyle Leyenberger; the Edward H. Colgan House, 2318 S. Summit, 1913, owned by Justin Laffoon and Craig Cox; and the Dr. Albert G. McGill House, 2209 S. Battery, 1922-1923, owned by Sheila Miles.

Tourgoers will be able to buy refreshments from food trucks stationed on the the divided part of Battery Street. A ticket booth will be at the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site Visitor Center, where restrooms will also be open to tourgoers.

The tour weekend will include two special events. A Saturday candlelight tour and dinner will feature an evening meal in the historic gymnasium at Philander Smith College, 900 W. Daisy L. Gatson Bates Drive. A Mother's Day brunch May 13 will take place at Curran Hall, 615 E. Capitol Ave.

The Mayer house, according to Quapaw Quarter tour historians, bears such notable features as "a massive limestone-surround entrance, liberal use of casement windows, second-story iron balconies, and an arched porte cochere. Mayer's love of new Packard cars may have been the reason for the multiple garages, live-in chauffeur space, and large paved drive and rear courtyard."

The Mayers lived in the house until Maxwell Mayer's death in 1935. It came under the ownership of several other families, spent some time as a rental property, and was vacant for a time.

Labor of love

A University of Alabama graduate, Nelson moved from her home state to Washington -- where she collected more antiques. She moved to Little Rock in 1993. When she saw all the older houses near downtown, she was excited but was told there was a lot of gang activity in the Quapaw Quarter area. So she bought a house in west Little Rock's St. Charles neighborhood, but every week, she would drive around the Quapaw Quarter.

As it happens, Nelson's church, St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, is in the Central High area. "I could not believe the homes in the area," she said. She decided she would shrug off the warnings and restore a house there. She searched for almost a year before she saw the Mayer house, which she fell in love with but had recently sold. She continued to drive around weekly to view the house. Then, one day, it she saw it was back on the market. "So I purchased it," Nelson says.

Taking ownership of the house in 2005, she first restored the guest house in order to have a place to stay. "Then I went on the adventure of restoring the main house -- and it was an adventure," she says.

This was Nelson's first time restoring a house. She wryly recalls the contractor who came over and, after inspecting the house, told her it would cost only about $50,000 to restore it. "I believed that because I didn't know any better," she says. "The bill turned out to be "probably four times that."

Yes, Nelson admits, there were times she wondered what she had gotten herself into. "I became very distressed about it," she says, recalling that she hired an architect to get bids for her. The process was stressful because of her job as an administrator with the federal court. "Having contractors around every day -- it was very stressful for me. ... There were times that I felt like giving up. ... until I started seeing the beauty of the home."

The most hair-pulling of the renovation projects was the plumbing, Nelson remembers. During the addition of two bathrooms to the house, plumbers had to tear into the walls. She came home from work during lunch hour one day and was upset to find holes in the walls. She felt they were destroying the integrity of the house, but she got over that.

Installation of three heating and air conditioning units deemed necessary for the large house was, she recalls, "very complicated." Then there was the brick work. There were cracks in the portico, so the bricklayer had to take the portico bricks down and rebuild it.

It was six years before Nelson was able to move into the main house. She says she felt she'd finally turned the corner when passers-by began slowing down to get a better look at the house. "That made me smile ... and also, just visitors to this home" who told her she'd done a great job.

Special effects

Nelson believes tourgoers will appreciate the main parlor's original, peacock tile fireplace and cabinets -- "I think they'll be amazed at the architectural design" -- the arches placed throughout the house, the original, tiger-oak flooring, which she had refinished; and the black and white tile floor in the breakfast room, parlor and sunroom. She also anticipates viewers will enjoy the guesthouse's sand paintings, which are American-Indian inspired and attributed to Oklahoma artist Gene Richardson. They were added to walls sometime during the 1980s.

One treasure that turned up during renovation was a Valentine's Day card from the 1920s. Nelson discovered the card when she put in new garage doors for the guesthouse. Another memento: the signature of the house's first owner, found in the basement.

Like many owners of historic houses, Nelson says restoration of hers is an ongoing process. Sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes it's exhilarating, especially when she considers the effort that went into building the house and its unique features. "Just waking up each morning in a historic home, that means a lot to me."

She feels she was able to make a contribution to a neighborhood that is on its way back to its former glory but is still marred by boarded-up, neglected houses. She hopes her efforts with the Mayer House inspire others to buy and restore these houses.

"I would love to see this neighborhood just turn around ... and be a premier neighborhood like it was in the 1920s," she says. "It was one of the most fashionable neighborhoods in little Rock.

"I just hope that people will see the beauty of these homes."

HomeStyle on 05/05/2018

*CORRECTION: The 54th Annual Quapaw Quarter Spring Tour of Homes is Saturday and Sunday in Little Rock’s Central High School Neighborhood Historic District. Tickets are available in advance online at quapaw.com for $20cq KCor on tour days for $30 at the Garrett House, 1400 S. Schiller; the Max Mayer House, 2016 S. Battery; and the Colgan House, 2318 S. Summit. A previous version of this story gave incorrect information about where to purchase tickets on tour days.