View source for Richard Sheppard Arnold United States Post Office and Courthouse

{{Hatnote|This article is about the 1931 federal building in Little Rock.  For the 1870s federal building in Little Rock, see [[Old Post Office Building and Customhouse (Little Rock, Arkansas)]].  For the 1961 building, see [[Federal Building (Little Rock, Arkansas)]].}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name         = Little Rock US Post Office and Courthouse
| nrhp_type    =
| image        = AR-LittleRock 1932 1 Ref.jpg
| caption      = The building as it appeared in 1932
| location     = 600 W. Capitol Ave., [[Little Rock, Arkansas]]
| coordinates  = {{coord|34|44|43|N|92|15|59|W|region:US_type:landmark|name=Little Rock US Post Office and Courthouse|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin     = Arkansas#USA
| map_caption  = Location in [[Arkansas]]##Location in United States
| built        = {{Start date|1932}}
| architect    = [[Office of the Supervising Architect]] under [[James A. Wetmore]] and [[Louis A. Simon|Louis Simon]]
| architecture = [[Classical Revival]]
| added        = December 23, 1999
| area         = {{convert|2.1|acre}}
| refnum       = 99001540<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2013a}}</ref>
}}
The '''Richard Sheppard Arnold United States Post Office and Courthouse''' is a [[courthouse]] of the [[United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas]] in [[Little Rock, Arkansas]].<ref name="FJC">[http://www.fjc.gov/history/courthouses.nsf/getcourthouse?OpenAgent&chid=421EF3037BE4B78D8525718B0054FE5A Federal Judicial Center Historic Federal Courthouses page on the Richard Sheppard Arnold United States Post Office and Courthouse].</ref> Completed in 1932, in 2003 it was renamed for Court of Appeals judge [[Richard S. Arnold]].<ref name="FJC"/><ref name="GSA">[http://www.gsa.gov/portal/ext/html/site/hb/category/25431/actionParameter/exploreByBuilding/buildingId/723 General Services Administration page on the Richard Sheppard Arnold United States Post Office and Courthouse].</ref> It is located at 500 West Capitol Avenue.  It was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1999 as '''Little Rock U.S. Post Office and Courthouse'''.
==Significance==
After the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] ended, the city of Little Rock prospered as a [[cotton]] and [[lumber]] market and as the chief center of trade for Arkansas. The population had grown from 3700 in 1860 to 88,000 by 1940. During the growth period of the 1930s, the need arose for a larger post office. Thus, the United States Post Office and Courthouse in Little Rock was built in 1931–32, during one of the most difficult periods of American history, the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s.<ref name="GSA"/>
The passage of the [[Public Buildings Act of 1926]] precipitated a period of building construction that was unprecedented in the United States. The Public Buildings Act specified that the office of the [[Supervising Architect of the Department of the Treasury]] would be responsible for the design and construction of all public buildings. [[James A. Wetmore]] was Acting Supervising Architect at the beginning of this period of construction. Since he retired in the early 1930s this may have been the last federal building whose construction he supervised. Though pre-dating the economic problems of the 1930s, the Public Buildings Act was the catalyst for the vast federal building program of the period and for providing jobs for thousands of construction workers around the country.<ref name="GSA"/>
Wetmore signed the construction drawings for the design of the new postal facility in May 1931. Construction was completed by December 1932. The east wing of the building was extended to the north in 1941 with an addition designed by [[Louis A. Simon|Louis Simon]] as Supervising Architect of the Treasury and W.G. Noll as Chief of Architecture. The 1941 extension replicated the exterior of the original building. The west wing of the building was extended to the north in 1987. The 1987 addition is an abstraction of the original design.<ref name="GSA"/>
The building is located along the axis of the [[Arkansas State Capitol]] building and functions in both a visual and practical capacity to enhance the monumental quality of the state's capital city.  It was renamed in honor of judge [[Richard Sheppard Arnold]] 2003.<ref name="FJC"/><ref name="GSA"/> The building is symbolic of the federal presence in Little Rock and is a reminder of the growth of the federal government as evidenced in the building period of the 1930s.<ref name="GSA"/>
==Architectural description==
The monumental five-story limestone building was designed in the Academic [[Greek Revival architecture|Greek Revival style]]. The original 1932 building is approximately 251' wide and 151' deep; and the east wing addition of 1941, and west wing addition of 1987, extend the depth by 114' to approximately 265'. The composition of the main elevation consists of two projecting Greek [[distyle]] pavilions at the east and west ends resting upon a two-story rusticated base. The major horizontal zones of the building are clearly differentiated. The foundation and basement are gray granite, above which rise a first floor and [[mezzanine]] level of horizontally incised, [[rustication (architecture)|rusticated]] limestone veneer, above which rise three floors of smooth finished (honed), flush jointed limestone which gives a monolithic appearance, except for [[Window|fenestration]] and [[pilaster]]s as described below.<ref name="GSA"/>
The two Greek distyle temple pavilions consist of slightly projecting [[pediments]], each supported by a pair of three-story, [[Fluting (architecture)|fluted]] [[Doric order|Doric]] [[engaged column]]s, resting on the rusticated two-story base. Each end of the main elevation contains a main entrance beneath a raised temple front. A [[frieze]] of alternating limestone [[triglyph]]s and terra cotta [[metope (architecture)|metopes]] extends around the west, south and east elevations of the 1932 and 1941 buildings. The [[terra cotta]] [[metope (architecture)|metopes]] are composed of various configurations of tiles creating palmette and leaf and scroll motifs. The tiles are polychrome with a [[buff (color)|buff color]] relief, matching the limestone, on a gold or [[sienna]] field. Each [[tympanum (architecture)|tympanum]] has a central spread eagle [[Cartouche (design)|cartouche]], with the eagle heads reversed in order to face each other across the building. The recessed front elevations are very planar, consisting of alternating vertical window bays and fluted engaged pilasters at the third through the fifth floors resting, like the temple fronts, on the rusticated two-story base.<ref name="GSA"/>
Exterior ornamentation is limited to the pilasters, the window system, the frieze described above, a terra cotta [[fretwork]] band separating the rusticated base from the smooth upper floors, and a shallow projecting cornice. The window system is designed to promote verticality in the bays. The windows are three light vertical steel casements whose light-colored vertical mullions are a visual design element. On the upper three floors, the windows are connected vertically by three-panel marble spandrels whose dividing rails form extensions of the window mullions. This presents an extremely vertical appearance where the two mullions extend upward continuously for three floors, separating the three-story pilasters.<ref name="GSA"/>
A 50' wide, 114' long, east wing addition was added in 1941. This addition is indistinguishable from the original building, making the east elevation appear to be a contiguous 265' elevation. In 1987 however, another similar sized wing was designed not to replicate the original. While matching the original building in height and material, the west wing has no fenestration on its outer walls, and appears as a monolithic mass extending northward from the 1932 west wing. While it picks up the horizontal fretwork band (as a slightly decorated limestone band) and the frieze (as a band of plain white pre-cast concrete), the west wing lacks any vertical elements to complement the verticality of the 1932 structure's window system and pilasters.<ref name="GSA"/>
Internally the building plan is typical of such post office and courthouse buildings of the period. It has a rectangular footprint on the first floor to accommodate the postal function (i.e. the large open work floor). Upper floors are gradually reduced in size via an E-shaped plan on the second and third floors, and the elimination of the central leg on the fourth and fifth floors to create a U-shaped plan.<ref name="GSA"/>
Interior spaces consist of a grand postal lobby; postal offices and work areas; double-loaded public corridors with elevator lobbies, several courtrooms including the main ceremonial courtroom on the fourth floor; standard tenant office spaces throughout; and a utilitarian basement. Each of these areas is described in detail in their respective zone descriptions.<ref name="GSA"/>
The site is bordered on all sides by public streets and sidewalks. Grading slopes downhill from the front (SE) on Capital Street to the rear (NE) on Fourth Street. On the east elevation the grade is lowered to partially expose the granite base course and basement windows; on the west elevation the grade level was maintained at the first floor level and the basement is lighted by areaways along the west side. Landscaping generally consists of a lawn border along the west, south and east elevations with two large [[evergreen]]s flanking each front entry (the easternmost tree of the east entry has been lost), and assorted shrubs at the corners. Original Deco lighting standards flank all the entries of the 1932 and 1941 elevations.<ref name="GSA"/>
== See also ==
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Little Rock, Arkansas]]
*[[List of United States post offices]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
== Attribution ==
{{Commons category|Richard Sheppard Arnold United States Post Office and Courthouse}}
*{{GSA building|723}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Federal courthouses in the United States]]
[[Category:Courthouses in Arkansas]]
[[Category:Government buildings completed in 1932]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1932]]
[[Category:Neoclassical architecture in Arkansas]]
[[Category:Government buildings in Little Rock, Arkansas]]
[[Category:Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Little Rock, Arkansas]]
[[Category:United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas]]