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Arkansas Governor's Mansion
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The Arkansas Governor's Mansion
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| Location: | 1800 Center Street, Little Rock, Arkansas |
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| Architect: | Frank J. Ginocchio, Jr. and Edwin B. Cromwell. |
| Governing body: | State |
| Part of: | Governor's Mansion Historic District (#78000620[1]) |
| Added to NRHP: | September 13, 1978 |
The Arkansas Governor's Mansion is the official residence of the Governor of Arkansas and his family. The mansion is located at 1800 Center Street in Little Rock, and is included in the Governor's Mansion Historic District, a district that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Before 1950, Arkansas had never had an official residence for its governor.[2]
In 1947, Act 257 of the Arkansas General Assembly established a Governor's Mansion Commission with an appropriation of $100,000.00. The site was the former location of the Arkansas School for the Blind, which had moved to new quarters near the city's Pulaski Heights neighborhood. The architects were Frank J. Ginocchio, Jr. and Edwin B. Cromwell.
The architectural style of the mansion is Georgian Revival, colonial type. The main material of the exterior is brick. Construction began in December 1947 (incorporating 300,000 bricks from the original School for the Blind structures), and the Governor's Residence became operational officially on January 10, 1950. The first Governor to reside here was Sidney S. McMath, who moved in on February 3, 1950. Significant additions to the mansion were completed during the administration of Michael Huckabee.
Mike Huckabee received great publicity when he moved into a mobile home on the mansion grounds during the renovation. "It's not a trailer. It's a triple wide," Huckabee joked. Huckabee told Jay Leno that the 2,100 square, $110,000 trailer (donated by the Arkansas Manufactured Housing Association) "was big enough for your chin." Huckabee said there were substantial cost savings by using the trailer, because the security detail would not have to be moved to a new rented location.[3]
In addition to its notability as an official state residence, the mansion's exterior has been featured as the exterior of Suzanne Sugarbaker's home for the CBS television series Designing Women. In 2008, stock footage of the mansion was used for the television program 30 Rock to represent the home of a character played by Steve Martin.[4]
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