On the agenda: Fayetteville Historic District Commission — surveillance camera (Nov 12)

113 W. Mountain St
Fayetteville, AR 72701

Historic District Commission Agenda
City Hall Meeting Room 101/ Virtual Meeting Via Zoom
Thursday, November 12, 2026
5:30 PM
Members
Chair Christine Myres (Exp: 06/28)
Vice Chair Cheri Coley (Exp: 06/27)
Jennifer Didway (Exp: 06/27)
Tommie Flowers Davis (Exp: 06/27)
Mark Harper (Exp: 06/27)
Karen Rorex (Exp: 06/28)
Susan Tonymon (Exp: 06/29)

City Staff
Long Range and Historic Preservation Planner Kylee Cole
Interim Development Services Director Britin Bostick

Historic District Commission

November 12, 2026

Zoom Information
Webinar ID: 840 2719 5015
Registration Link: https://fayettevillear.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_f7HGmAuqT-ipZ__Xsp5EzQ

Call to Order
Roll Call
Minutes
Approval of the October 8, 2026 Historic District Commission Meeting Minutes

Special Presentation
Evergreen Cemetery Columbarium Proposal (Maylon Rice)

Unfinished Business
South Fayetteville Local Historic District Update

New Business
NRHP Nomination Review: John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building and U.S.
Courthouse) - 35 East Mountain Street

Commissioner Training - Commission Procedures

Announcements
Adjournment

City of Fayetteville, Arkansas

Page 2

Meeting of the Historic District Commission
October 8, 2026, 5:30 PM
City Hall Room 101 & Zoom
NOTE: The October 8, 2026 Historic District Commission meeting was held in person and
online. Staff were present in person.
Members: Chair Christine Myres, Vice Chair Cheri Coley, Mark Harper, Jennifer Didway,
Tommie Flowers Davis, Karen Rorex, and Susan Tonymon
City Staff: Kylee Cole – Long Range & Preservation Planner; Britin Bostick - Long Range
Planning & Special Projects Manager, Kaci Black – Long Range Communication & Outreach
Call to Order: 5:30 PM
In Attendance: Chair Christine Myres (remote), Vice Chair Cheri Coley, Jennifer Didway,
Tommie Flowers Davis, Mark Harper, Susan Tonymon, Kylee Cole, and Britin Bostick
Approval of Minutes from the August 13, 2026 and September 10, 2026 Meetings: Motion
to approve the August 13 minutes by Commissioner Harper, second by Commissioner
Didway. Unanimously approved by voice vote. Minutes for the September 10 meeting were
motioned for approval by Commissioner Flowers Davis, second by Commissioner Didway.
Unanimously approved by voice vote.
Unfinished Business:
1. PUBLIC HEARING ADMINISTRATIVE ITEM (South Fayetteville Historic District
Petition): Cole reminded the Commission that the draft report from staff amended as
requested by the City Council has been in the commission meeting agendas since
September. She followed with a presentation showing the map revision to remove
the Jefferson School property and reminded the Commissioners that a vote is
needed at this meeting to return the item to the City Council on the timeline required
by the Arkansas Historic Districts Act. Cole showed the ordinance language with an
adjusted parcel count to match the removal of the Jefferson School property.
Vice Chair Coley opened the public hearing and Cole provided reminders about
procedure for members of the public wishing to make public comment.
Shawn Schwartzman, representing Potter’s House, spoke in favor of the amended
map, asking the Commission again to allow the Jefferson School property to be
removed from the district based on their current and upcoming projects to steward
the building. He additionally shared they are working with their attorneys on a deed
restriction for the property to protect the historic school building and to add a historic
marker to the property telling the property story. Potter’s House is committed to good
stewardship and would like to do that concurrent to but not within the proposed
district at this time.

Nick Cowan spoke in favor of the amended map and expressed enthusiasm for the
property to be used for the benefit of the community, including a community meal
and upcoming programs and support. Their passion is for community and that is the
basis for what they do.
Christopher Benson spoke on behalf of Potter’s House. He moved here in 2020 and
has had a wonderful experience. There are groups and daycare provided, he is a
part of the family and likes to grow. He spoke of close relationships to the school, his
enthusiasm for the recent Back to School bash, and his support for the organization.
Vice Chair Coley closed the public hearing and opened the floor to discussion.
Commissioner Harper stated he thinks this process has worked the way that it is
meant to and now that the Commission has the direction from the Council, he
believes the Commission correctly served their role on the recommendation and now
has clear expectations from the Council. Harper asked about the process if a
property owner does not want to be included in a district and how that would work
and what the precedent is across the country. Cole replied that she reached out to
the Certified Local Government Coordinator Iain Montgomery to clarify what the state
preservation office’s guidance is on the issue. Additional comments followed.
Chair Myres stated she agrees with Commissioner Harper and believes the
amended boundary is the right way to go. Her concern was in providing protection for
the building and believes they are on safe ground with the steps they are taking. She
supports establishing the district and moving forward with design guidelines.
Commissioner Flowers Davis stated she supports Potter’s House and what they are
doing. Her view is different on this due to her kinship and the community’s with the
school. For people who were raised in the community and had a relationship with the
school this is less about a vote against Potter’s House and more in support of the
overall community’s wishes.
Commissioner Harper moved to send the revised recommendation to City Council
with the Jefferson School property removed with a recommendation of approval.
Commissioner Tonymon seconded. The motion passed with a vote of 5-1, with
Commissioner Flowers Davis opposed.
New Business:
1. Q3 2026 Demolition Report: Cole provided the demo report and made a
presentation to the Commission showing an increase in Q3 for the number of historic
buildings with historic buildings. One was listed on the National Register of Historic
Places and contributed to the Meadow Spring National Register Historic District.

2

Vice Chair Coley asked how long demolition permits are good for? Staff replied they
believe it is six months.
Commissioner Didway asked why historic buildings are demoed when the buildings
look to be in good shape. Cole replied the conditions can vary and may not be
evident from the street, but typically the demolitions precede redevelopment projects.
2. 2027-2028 CLG Grant Application: Cole shared two projects she is proposing to
submit for the grant application. The first is a continuation of the citywide historic
resource survey. She has been working to reduce the scope of the project, with
around 850 properties identified for survey. This can help save costs.
Vice Chair Coley asked how many phases of survey there are. Cole replied three so
that we can try to complete the full project, as we are currently on phase 2. Post Oak
Preservation Solutions is currently in town for the Phase 2 survey.
Cole’s second proposal for the grant application is a project for design guidelines for
historic districts that addresses all property types so that we can have that ready and
available for people who want to do projects in historic districts and property owners
who may want more information before requesting to join a historic district. Cole
thinks the projects may total nearly $90k in costs but thinks that would be good to
submit the request.
Chair Myres asked if Cole has anyone picked out for the design guidelines. Cole has
worked with a few firms for quotes that she has to submit with the grant application.
The ballpark estimates inform the grant process, but a formal RFP process would still
be needed to select a firm.
3. Commissioner Training – Commission Procedures: Cole let Commissioners
know the presentation is about 30 minutes long. Commissioners requested to
postpone the item to the November meeting.
Announcements:
1. Marinoni Ensemble Homes (355 N. College Ave.) Listed on NRHP: Cole shared some
details of the recently listed property and the benefits than come with that listing.
Adjourned: 6:14 PM

3

October 14, 2026
Ms. Kylee Cole
Long Range and Historic Preservation Planner
113 West Mountain Street
Fayetteville, AR 72701
Dear Ms. Cole,
Accompanying the electronic transmission of this letter, the U.S. General Services Administration is
pleased to submit for your review the National Register of Historic Places registration package for the
Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse (current name: John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building and
U.S. Courthouse), located at 35 East Mountain Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Developed by GSA and designed by Fayetteville architect Warren D. Segraves, the Modernist office
building and courthouse was completed in 1974. The five-story building consists of a square-plan main
block, with an overhanging flat roof and fifth story that are supported by thin, rectangular concrete
columns. Projecting bays in the east and west elevations house the elevator cores, stairwells, and
mechanical rooms, and rise from the first story to above the roofline. The building is of reinforced
concrete construction, featuring a reinforced concrete waffle slab floor structure, concrete walls clad in
brown brick, and a membrane roof. An aluminum-framed curtain wall with bronze-tinted mirrored plate
glass windows clads the majority of the north and south elevations, as well as the east and west
elevations at the overhanging fifth floor. The fascia of the roof overhang is finished in tan architectural
concrete and white cementitious plaster, and the waffle-slab floor structure is visible in the coffered
concrete soffit of the overhang. The primary entrance is in the north elevation, with additional secondary
entrances in the north, south, and east elevations. Stylistically, the building reflects a convergence of midtwentieth century architectural aesthetic currents. These include Brutalism, seen in the building’s exterior
concrete elements and the feeling of weighty massiveness and monumentality expressed through the tall
brick-clad enclosures that project from the side elevations, as well as the International Style,
communicated through the extensive use of curtain wall glazing. The building also exhibits characteristics
of New Formalism through its roof overhang, supported by thin columns, which along with the symmetry
of the north and south elevations, expresses the temple-like building form characteristic of the style.
Complementing the building’s architecture is its original landscape design, which significantly contributes
to the architectural fabric of the community, which includes other prominent Seagraves designed
buildings. The building’s hardscaped north and south plazas are set below grade, which responds to the
site topography and is reflective of Seagrave’s work in Fayetteville. These architectural qualities speak to
Warren Segrave's work regionally; he was among the first designers in northwestern Arkansas to promote
and utilize the International-Style mode of modernism in his work while also retaining its local sensibility
by maintaining a structural simplicity endemic to the Ozarks. The federal building retains excellent
integrity, both on its exterior and in its intact lobby and original courtroom.
The building was originally known as the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, as indicated on the
architectural drawings prepared by Warren D. Segraves in 1971. Congressional legislation in 1992
renamed the building the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building and United States Courthouse.
Hammerschmidt (1922-2015) served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1967-1993, representing
Arkansas’s Third Congressional District.

1800 F Street, NW
Washington, DC 20405-0002
www.gsa.gov

In accordance with National Register federal program regulations (36 CFR Part 60.9(c)), we are notifying
the chief elected officials of the political jurisdiction within which the property is located of GSA’s intent to
nominate the above referenced property to the National Register of Historic Places. Concurrently, the
Arkansas State Historic Preservation Officer is reviewing the National Register package.
The enclosed copy of the nomination is provided to you as staff to the City of Fayetteville’s Certified Local
Government program. Should you have any comments, please respond within 45 days of receipt of this
letter.
Following receipt of all comments or an indication of no comment, we will forward the nomination to the
National Park Service for approval. Upon listing, a final copy of the nomination will be available through
the National Register of Historic Places.
Should you need further information regarding the nomination package, please contact me at (202) 3066107 or [email protected].
Sincerely,

Sarah A. Garner
Senior Historic Preservation Specialist
Enclosures
cc:

Kristi Tunstall Williams, Federal Preservation Officer, GSA

NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
This form is for use in nominating or requesting determinations for individual properties and districts. See instructions in National Register Bulletin,
How to Complete the National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. If any item does not apply to the property being documented, enter
"N/A" for "not applicable." For functions, architectural classification, materials, and areas of significance, enter only categories and subcategories
from the instructions.

1. Name of Property
Historic name: Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse
Other names/site number: John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building and United States
Courthouse
Name of related multiple property listing:
N/A
(Enter "N/A" if property is not part of a multiple property listing
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Location
Street & number: 35 East Mountain Street
City or town: Fayetteville State: Arkansas County: Washington
Not For Publication:
Vicinity:
____________________________________________________________________________
3. State/Federal Agency Certification
As the designated authority under the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended, I
hereby certify that this X nomination ___ request for determination of eligibility meets the
documentation standards for registering properties in the National Register of Historic Places
and meets the procedural and professional requirements set forth in 36 CFR Part 60.
In my opinion, the property _X_ meets ___ does not meet the National Register Criteria. I
recommend that this property be considered significant at the following
level(s) of significance:
___national
___statewide
_X_local
Applicable National Register Criteria:
_X_A

___B

_X_C

___D

Signature of certifying official/Title:

Date

______________________________________________
State or Federal agency/bureau or Tribal Government

In my opinion, the property

meets

does not meet the National Register criteria.

Signature of commenting official:

Date

Title :

State or Federal agency/bureau
or Tribal Government
1

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

______________________________________________________________________________
4. National Park Service Certification
I hereby certify that this property is:
entered in the National Register
determined eligible for the National Register
determined not eligible for the National Register
removed from the National Register
other (explain:) _____________________

______________________________________________________________________
Signature of the Keeper
Date of Action
____________________________________________________________________________
5. Classification
Ownership of Property
(Check as many boxes as apply.)
Private:
Public – Local
Public – State
Public – Federal

X

Category of Property
(Check only one box.)
Building(s)

X

District
Site
Structure
Object

Sections 1-6 page 2

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Number of Resources within Property
(Do not include previously listed resources in the count)
Contributing
Noncontributing
______1_______
______1_______

buildings

______0_______

______0_______

sites

______0_______

______0_______

structures

______0_______

______0_______

objects

______1_______

______1________

Total

Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register ____0_____
____________________________________________________________________________
6. Function or Use
Historic Functions
(Enter categories from instructions.)
GOVERNMENT/government office
GOVERNMENT/courthouse
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
Current Functions
(Enter categories from instructions.)
GOVERNMENT/government office
GOVERNMENT/courthouse
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________

Sections 1-6 page 3

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

_____________________________________________________________________________
7. Description
Architectural Classification
(Enter categories from instructions.)
MODERN MOVEMENT/International Style
MODERN MOVEMENT/Brutalism
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
Materials: (enter categories from instructions.)
Principal exterior materials of the property: Brick, concrete, steel, aluminum, glass

Narrative Description
______________________________________________________________________________
Summary Paragraph
The Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse (John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building and
United States Courthouse) is located at 35 East Mountain Street in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Developed by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), and designed by Fayetteville
architect Warren D. Segraves, the Modernist office building and courthouse was completed in
1974. The five-story building consists of a square-plan main block, with an overhanging flat roof
and fifth story that are supported by thin, rectangular concrete columns (Photo 1). Projecting
bays in the east and west elevations house the elevator cores, stairwells, and mechanical rooms,
and rise from the first story to above the roofline. The building is of reinforced concrete
construction, featuring a reinforced concrete waffle slab floor structure, concrete walls clad in
brown brick, and a membrane roof.1 An aluminum-framed curtain wall with bronze-tinted
mirrored plate glass windows clads the majority of the north and south elevations, as well as the
east and west elevations at the overhanging fifth floor. The fascia of the roof overhang is finished
in tan architectural concrete and white cementitious plaster, and the waffle-slab floor structure is
visible in the coffered concrete soffit of the overhang. The primary entrance is in the north
elevation, with additional secondary entrances in the north, south, and east elevations.
1 Roof replacement was executed circa 1998. Work included a new roof system, coping, lightning protection, new

access ladders to penthouse roofs, new metal caps on concrete columns, raising of curbs on the roof for proper
flashing install, and construction of a small new roof area at the east with gutters and downspouts. Cromwell and
WER Architects, Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, prepared for GSA,
June 30, 2023, 17.
Section 7 page 4

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Stylistically, the building reflects a convergence of mid-twentieth century architectural aesthetic
currents. These include Brutalism, seen in the building’s exterior concrete elements and the
feeling of weighty massiveness and monumentality expressed through the tall brick-clad
enclosures that project from the side elevations, as well as the International Style, communicated
through the extensive use of curtain wall glazing. The building also exhibits characteristics of
New Formalism through its roof overhang, supported by thin columns, which along with the
symmetry of the north and south elevations, expresses the temple-like building form
characteristic of the style. Complementing the building’s architecture is its original landscape
design, which significantly contributes to the architectural fabric of the community,
which includes other prominent Segraves designed buildings. The building’s hardscaped north
and south plazas are set below grade, which responds to the site topography and is reflective of
Segraves’s work in Fayetteville. These architectural qualities speak to Warren Segraves’s work
regionally; he was among the first designers in northwestern Arkansas to promote and utilize the
International-Style mode of modernism in his work while also retaining its local sensibility by
maintaining a structural simplicity endemic to the Ozarks. The federal building retains excellent
integrity, both on its exterior and in its intact lobby and original courtroom.
The building was originally known as the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, as indicated on
the architectural drawings prepared by Warren D. Segraves in 1971. Congressional legislation in
1992 renamed the building the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building and United States
Courthouse.2 Hammerschmidt (1922-2015) served in the U.S. House of Representatives from
1967-1993, representing Arkansas’s Third Congressional District.
______________________________________________________________________________
Narrative Description
Site
The federal building is located in downtown Fayetteville, approximately one mile southeast of
the University of Arkansas campus (Figures 1 and 2). The immediate area is characterized by
low-rise commercial buildings dating primarily from the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth
centuries, as well as more recently constructed mid-rise office buildings. National Register-listed
resources in the area include the Romanesque Revival-style Washington County Jail at the
intersection of S. College and County Avenues (1896, NRHP #78000638, listed 1978), Lynn
Shelton American Legion Post No. 27 at 28 South College Avenue (1939, NRHP #95001480,
listed 1996), the Washington County Courthouse at 4 South College Avenue (1905, NRHP
#72000212, listed 1972), and the Guisinger Building at 1 East Mountain Street (1886, NRHP
#84000910, listed 1984). One of the most significant resources in the immediate area of the
federal building is the Old Post Office at 1 West Center Street (1911, NRHP #74000503, listed
1974), located two blocks to the northwest, in the center of Fayetteville's historic town square.

2 Public Law 102-446, 102nd Congress, 2nd sess., October 23, 1992, Statutes at Large, Vol. 106, p. 2247.

Section 7 page 5

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Designed by James Knox Taylor, this Neoclassical building served as the Post Office from 1911
until 1963, when a new facility was constructed on Dickson Street.3
The 2.2-acre parcel, which slopes from north to south, is bounded on the north by East Mountain
Street, on the south by East Rock Street, on the east by South College Avenue, and on the west
by an alley (Figure 3). The federal building is located in the north half of the lot, with its
principal elevation and main entrance oriented towards East Mountain Street. An asphalt surface
parking lot covers the south half of the site and wraps around the east side of the building along
South College Avenue. The parking lot is enclosed by contemporary steel fencing mounted on a
concrete base. The parking lot is entered from East Mountain Street through a secure gated
vehicular entrance, via a short, paved driveway. Two additional gated entrances are located on
the west side of the parking lot, entered from the alley (Photo 4). A low brick retaining wall
partially spans the south edge of the lot, along East Rock Street. Security upgrades were
executed in 2017, and new irrigation and parking lot lighting were installed.4
Small, original plazas, surfaced in concrete pavers, are located adjacent to the main north and
south-elevation entrances, and contribute to the architectural character of the site and building
(Photos 9 and 15). In addition, landscaped areas with grass lawns, trees, and shrubs, are found on
all four sides of the building, connected to the hardscaped plazas by concrete walkways (Photos
12 and 16).5 The plazas and landscaped areas that surround the building are enclosed by brick
walls. The walls are low in height along the north side of the property and become higher to the
south to accommodate the slope of the site. The walls are of brown brick, matching the
building’s facing brick, and are laid in stretcher bond, with soldier-coursed brick coping. On the
north, east, and south sides of the building, these walls are topped with steel fencing that was
installed in 1998.6 Brick planter beds are located in the north and south plazas and are, in some
cases, integrated into the brick walls (Photos 9 and 15). A recess in the wall that runs along the
south side of the building contains a set of double-leaf flat metal doors that provide access to the
basement level from the parking lot. In addition, cooling towers, originally located on the roof,
were moved to a concrete pad on the west side of the building in 1996. The cooling towers are
screened by brick walls, integrated into the system of perimeter walls that surround the building,
and the enclosure is entered through a steel gate.7

3 City of Fayetteville, “Historic Sites,” https://maps.fayetteville-ar.gov/HistoricSites/ (accessed November 2024).
4 Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 17.
5 The original drawings note brick basketweave pavers at the building perimeter, but concrete is existing in those

locations. Areas appearing on the drawings originally designed to receive concrete today exist as large grassy areas
edged in gravel and brick. Numerous trees shown on the original landscape plans appear to have been removed or
never installed, and at least a portion of the smaller landscaping around the building perimeter has likely been
replaced. These discrepancies could be the result of the U.S. Marshals Service exterior security renovation in 2017,
or a change in scope during the original construction. Segraves modified the plans prior to construction to reduce
costs in 1972, and landscaping alterations may have been part of these changes. Hammerschmidt Federal
Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 17.
6 Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 17.
7 Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 17.
Section 7 page 6

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Outdoor lighting consists of original lamps with white, translucent spherical globes mounted to
round black metal posts (Photo 9). These lamps are mounted along the top of the brick walls that
surround the building. Shortened versions of the lamps are mounted in the center of the brick
planter boxes in the north and south plazas. A lighting project in 1995 included retrofitting
eighteen of these light fixtures with new globe assemblies.8 As the building has undergone
security upgrades, additional poles with surveillance cameras have been added.
Due to the slope of the site, the north plaza and lawn, and the landscaped areas along the east and
west sides of the building, are set below the level of the surrounding streets (Photo 12). From the
public sidewalks on East Mountain Street and the alley on the west side of the site, sets of
concrete steps provide pedestrian access, descending to the level of the north plaza and the northelevation entrances. An additional set of steps is accessible from a concrete walkway at the east
end of the north plaza. Pairs of reinforced concrete bollards, installed in 2017, stand at the
entrances to each of these sets of steps.9 The south plaza and entrance, and the east-elevation
entrance, are only accessible from the fenced parking lot (Photo 14). A guard booth (noncontributing structure) is located in the parking lot, at the southeast corner of the building, near
the south entrance plaza. The guard booth does not appear on the original site plan prepared by
Warren Segraves in 1971 and was presumably added post construction. The small, square-plan,
flat-roofed metal structure rests on a concrete base. A steel flagpole rises from the north plaza,
near the main entrance.
Exterior Elevations
Rectangular reinforced concrete structural columns divide the north elevation into six curtainwalled bays at the first through fifth stories (Photo 1). The curtain wall features heavy anodized
aluminum mullions exhibiting a bronze finish, and mirrored, plate-glass, fixed panes.10 The two
outer north-elevation columns are freestanding, while those in the four central bays are engaged
from the second to fifth stories. The first story of the four center bays is recessed, and the
overhang is supported by the columns, which create a colonnade that screens an east-west
concrete walkway that runs along the north elevation.
The eastern and westernmost bays of the north elevation are deeply set back from the building
line and are sheltered by the overhang of the fifth story. The main building entrance is set within
the easternmost bay, accessed from the hardscaped plaza at the northeast corner of the building
(Photo 10). The westernmost bay contains a secondary entrance, accessed by a north-south
branch of the circulation walkway. In 1986, the spandrel panels in this bay were modified to
receive fresh air intake louvers at each floor, and a new roof exhaust was added (intake louvers
were also added in the western entrance bay of the south elevation at this time).11 The reveals
8 Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 17.
9 Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 17.
10 Window repairs were executed circa 1989. A few windows on upper floors appear to be a different color than the

rest. These may have been replaced due to damage during this scope of work. Hammerschmidt Federal
Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 17.
11 Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 17.
Section 7 page 7

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

created by the recessed entrance bays are clad in brick, as are the north elevations of the
projecting, full-height enclosures that extend from the sides of the building.
The main entrance consists of a pair of single-leaf, anodized aluminum-framed glass doors set
into the easternmost curtain-walled bay. The dedication plaque is mounted to the brick exterior
of the north elevation, east of the entrance (Photo 11). The dark, gray-colored granite plaque is
engraved with the following:
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
RICHARD NIXON
PRESIDENT
GENERAL SERVICES ADMINISTRATION
ARTHUR F. SAMPSON
ADMINISTRATOR
1973
Two original, round, cast bronze plaques bearing the obverse and reverse of the Great Seal of the
United States, are mounted to the brick, to the east of the dedication plaque (Photo 9). Originally,
metal letters affixed to the wall, below the seals, spelled the words “Federal Building, United
States Courthouse, Fayetteville Arkansas” arranged in three horizontal rows. When the building
was rededicated in 1992, the original lettering was replaced with new lettering, which reads:
JOHN PAUL HAMMERSCHMIDT
FEDERAL BUILDING
UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE
FAYETTEVILLE, ARKANSAS
35 E. MOUNTAIN STREET
The secondary north-elevation entrance is located in the westernmost curtain-walled bay. It
consists of a single-leaf aluminum-framed glass door.
The design of the south elevation is identical to that of the north (Photo 5). This includes the
configuration of the two entrances, which match those of the north elevation. Affixed to the
facing brick, to the east of the eastern south-elevation entrance, are two round bronze plaques
bearing the Great Seal, as well as lettering spelling out the building name and address, matching
that found in the north elevation (Photo 15).
The east elevation is divided into six bays (Photo 7). Three full-height, windowless brick
enclosures project from the east elevation. The outer enclosures each contain restrooms and
mechanical rooms on each interior floor, while the center enclosure contains the east stairwell
and building’s two passenger elevator cores. The two narrow bays situated between the three
projecting, brick-clad enclosures are glazed with anodized aluminum-framed curtain walls,
extending from the first story to the roofline, where they terminate at the heavy fascia panels of
tan architectural concrete. A secondary entrance, consisting of a single-leaf aluminum-framed
glass door with a two-pane sidelight to its north, is situated at the first story between the northern
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

and central enclosures. Single freestanding columns, placed to the north and south of the three
projecting enclosures, support the fifth-story overhang, and divide the fifth-story curtain wall on
each side of the projections into two bays.
A single windowless, brick-clad enclosure projects from the west elevation (Photo 3), containing
the west stairwell, as well as electrical rooms on each floor. On the first floor of the interior, this
projection also contains a small lobby associated with the two western secondary entrances in the
north and south elevations. Two structural columns are situated to either side of the projecting
enclosure (four total), which along with the enclosure, divide the fifth story curtain wall into six
bays. The lower stories of the west elevation are faced in brick.
Interior
The federal building contains a basement level, floors one through five, and a penthouse level.
The building was designed on a five-foot grid, on which most vertical structural elements and
interior partitions were originally located. Square structural columns at the interior are spaced
twenty feet on center in each direction and align with the long, thin vertical columns at the
exterior. The second-floor cantilever results in the exterior columns projecting slightly into the
interior at floors two through four, and even more so at the fifth floor due to its greater
cantilever. A bank of two elevators and a stair at the east serve the basement through the fifth
floor. Corridors flank the elevator core to the north and south on each floor and provide access to
mechanical spaces and multi-person restrooms. A second egress stair at the west serves floors
one through five. A double-loaded corridor runs east to west on floors one through four,
connecting the main elevator lobby to a smaller lobby which serves the secondary egress stair.
General office space abuts the corridor to the north and south.
The basement is only partially excavated and contains mechanical equipment and a small office.
A breezeway at the south end of the basement leads to the set of access doors in the plaza wall on
the south side of the building. The basement finishes include sealed concrete floors, cast in place
concrete perimeter walls, and concrete block partitions. The majority of the space is open to the
structure above to allow for the density of mechanical, engineering, and plumbing services to and
from the basement. The small office area has a conventional acoustical tile drop ceiling.
The main lobby is located on the east side of the first floor (Photo 18). The north and south
exterior entrances into the main lobby lead to small vestibules. Each vestibule is separated from
the lobby space by anodized aluminum-framed curtain walls containing two single-leaf
aluminum framed glass doors (Photo 17). The floors of the lobby, and the entrance vestibules,
are surfaced in glazed paver bricks. The walls are of brown brick, with laminated plastic base
strips. The lobby ceilings are of gypsum plaster with a sand finish, augmented with acoustical
tile in the vestibules and outer portions of the main lobby. Two passenger elevators are located
on the east side of the lobby, and they feature stainless steel center-parting doors, with stainless
steel jambs, surmounted by stainless steel transom panels with contemporary digital floor
displays (Photo 19). The main lobby finishes continue into the two first-floor corridors that flank

Section 7 page 9

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

the elevator cores (Photo 20). New security screening equipment, installed in 2009, stands at the
center of the lobby.
The remainder of the first floor originally consisted of four partitioned general office spaces in
the north half and a large unpartitioned, open-plan office area in the south half. This layout has
been altered to create new offices, including an office suite for the U.S. Marshals Service,
installed in 2009. The U.S. Marshals suite is separated from the lobby to its east by a partition
containing a contemporary, single-leaf, wood-framed, glass door, flanked to the south by two
rows of three large wire-glass panes. The door and glass panes are set in a hollow metal
surround, with the panes separated by metal mullions (Photo 18). The U.S. Marshals suite is
finished with tile and carpeted floors, gypsum board walls with wood base and chair rails, and an
acoustical tile ceiling with inset florescent fixtures. Single-leaf flat wood doors with stainless
steel kickplates lead into the individual offices. In addition, new prisoner holding cells,
accessible from the U.S. Marshals suite, were constructed on the first floor, as part of the 2009
upgrades.
The elevator lobbies and corridors on the second through fifth floors are largely consistent in
appearance. As in the main lobby, the elevator cores, and the corridors that flank them to the
north and south, are finished in brown brick. The elevator lobbies and the general corridors on
each floor have undergone minimal alterations and are finished with original vinyl tile flooring,
gypsum board walls with vinyl base strips, and acoustical tile ceilings with inset florescent
lighting fixtures. Each elevator lobby has two original wall-mounted, glass front lockable
directories used for way finding on each floor. The south wall of the elevator shaft retains the
original painted mail chute. To the right of the stair door is an original recessed fire hose cabinet.
There have been changes to the original office layout on the second through fourth floors. The
second floor originally contained general office space. The partitioned offices were arranged to
the north and south of the main east-west corridor. The original floorplan has been altered to
accommodate new functions and improve the efficiency of the space. Notably, the second floor
was reconfigured in 2012 to include a new U.S. District Court Magistrate courtroom. The
courtroom has carpeted floors and gypsum board walls with wood base, wainscotting, pilasters,
and crown moldings, and an acoustical tile ceiling with inset fluorescent fixtures. A new
conference room, with typical contemporary office finishes, was created to facilitate jury
deliberations and meetings. Attorney/witness rooms were added to provide private areas for legal
discussions and witness preparation. In addition, two new single-person restrooms were included
to enhance the facilities available on the floor.12
The north half of the third floor originally contained partitioned, general office space, while the
south half remained unpartitioned and reserved for GSA. There was also a GSA conference room
at the southwest corner of the floor. The third-floor layout has been significantly reconfigured to
meet the evolving needs of the U.S. Probation Office and the U.S. Bankruptcy Court (USBC).
12 Cromwell Architects-Engineers and WER Architects, Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building

Preservation Plan, prepared for the U.S. General Services Administration, June 2023, 18.
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

The renovations have included updated finishes and reconfiguration of existing spaces to better
serve these functions.13
The USBC was originally located on the fourth floor. The hearing room was situated at the
northeast corner of the floor. The north half of the floor contained partitioned spaces for the U.S.
Commissioner’s office, probation office, secretary offices, and conference rooms. The south half
contained a large grand jury room, witness room, bailiff office, two U.S. attorney offices, and an
office for their secretary. The original layout has been reconfigured to create a more functional
environment for court operations. Notably, the fourth floor was reconfigured and updated to
include a new courtroom, judge's chambers, library, and other support spaces in 1992.14 The new
courtroom features carpeted floors, gypsum board walls with wood base and wainscotting, and
an acoustical tile ceiling with inset LED lighting fixtures (Photo 25). A low, paneled wood
barrier, matching the wainscotting, separates the public seating area from the other half of the
courtroom containing the judge’s bench.
In the original floorplan, the U.S. District courtroom was located at the center of the fifth floor,
where it remains today. Adjacent to the courtroom to the west were spaces for the bailiff, petit
jury, restrooms, and the judge’s robing chamber. From the elevator lobby, two east-west
corridors, still extant, ran along the north and south sides of the courtroom. Offices and spaces
associated with the operations of the court were then, and still are, accessed from this corridor.
To the north of the courtroom, the original layout featured offices for the court reporter, attorney
consuls, U.S. Marshals, and the holding cells. Located to the south of the courtroom were the
judge’s office suite, a secretary’s office, the court clerk’s office, library, file room, and other
spaces supporting the work of the clerk.
While the overall integrity of the fifth-floor public spaces, including the courtroom, has largely
remained intact, there have been notable modifications to support current operational needs. The
original jury deliberation space was relocated, and a new jury room was added across the hall to
the north of the courtroom. New restrooms were constructed to serve the relocated jury room.
Significant renovations occurred around 1998, which included reconfiguring office and support
spaces, consolidating the library, and updating finishes throughout the area. A lighting retrofit
was executed around 1995, replacing existing fixtures with new ones, although the fifth-floor
tenant spaces retained some original features.15
The primary entrance into the original fifth-floor courtroom is from the large elevator lobby
situated to its east (Photos 21 and 22). The lobby features original vinyl floors and base. The
lower part of the lobby walls are covered in a beige vinyl wall covering. The upper walls are
finished in plaster, behind an original screen composed of vertical wood slats. A band of black
anodized aluminum trim is integrated into the lower part of the screen. The original “Charters of
Freedom” display is mounted to the south wall of the lobby. The lighted aluminum display case,
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.

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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

containing reproductions of the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights,
features small versions of the obverse and reverse of the Great Seal at its corners, and a stylized
aluminum eagle (Photo 21). Two large wood display cases with glass fronts, containing portraits
of former U.S. District Court judges, stand against the west wall of the lobby, to either side of the
courtroom entrance. The lobby ceiling is finished in plaster, and it features two large, square
recesses at its center, each containing a surface mounted, flat panel florescent lighting fixture.
From the lobby, the courtroom (Photos 23-24) is entered through a set of double-leaf, flat wood
doors. Each door features a single narrow light, and the set of doors is surmounted by a wood
transom panel. The courtroom retains its original layout. Public seating in the east half of the
courtroom, consisting of rows of long wood pews arranged to either side of a central aisle, is
separated from the west half by a low wood barrier with swing gate. The judge’s dais and bench
are located against the west wall. The witness stand is located to the north of the judge’s bench
and the jury box is situated along the north wall. These furnishings, as well as the wood barrier,
swing gate, and jury box pony walls, all feature black plastic bases and are finished with stained
vertical wood slats over a background layer of black plastic laminate.
The courtroom has retained most of its original materials and finishes. The floor is carpeted, as it
was historically, although the current carpet is a replacement of the original. The walls have
retained their original battened walnut paneling, with original black laminated plastic base. The
upper walls are finished in original acoustical plaster, behind an original screen of vertical wood
slats that matches the screen in the elevator lobby. Mounted to the west wall, behind the judge’s
bench, is a round, cast metal plaque bearing the obverse of the Great Seal of the United States.
Original brass skeleton clocks are mounted to the north and south walls of the courtroom, and
original aluminum vents are set into the plastered upper walls.
Secondary entrances into the courtroom feature original, single-leaf, flat wood doors in wood
surrounds. There is one door in the south wall of the courtroom and two in the north. The south
door is recessed, while the two north doors are mounted flush with the wall. Two additional
doors are located in the west wall, to either side of the judge’s bench. In addition, there are two
original "attorney's closets" (as noted on the plans) along the south wall of the courtroom
concealed behind the wood paneling system.
The courtroom’s suspended ceiling structure is finished in acoustical plaster, and it consists of a
grid of fifteen square-shaped coffers that are approximately twenty-eight inches in depth. Each
coffer contains an original surface mounted, flat panel florescent lighting fixture. Inset can-style
lighting fixtures are spaced around the outer perimeter of the ceiling.
Integrity
The federal building has retained sufficient integrity to convey its historical and architectural
significance. The building maintains its original location and orientation on the site. While some
buildings in the immediate vicinity, such as the University of Arkansas Pryor Center at 1 East
Center Street (c. 1981), postdate the federal building, the overall setting remains largely
Section 7 page 12

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

unchanged, supported by multiple National Register-listed resources in the area, including the
1911 Old Post Office on the historic Fayetteville Town Square, located two blocks to the
northwest. Integrity of design is communicated through the building’s intact exterior, its original
and noteworthy landscape design, which contributes to the property’s character, and its mostly
unchanged principal interior spaces, which include the main first-floor entrance lobby, fifth-floor
court lobby, and original fifth-floor U.S. District Courtroom. While much of the federal tenant
office space on the first through third floors has been rehabilitated over the years, this is in
keeping with the original design intent that featured an open-plan arrangement on these floors to
ensure flexibility in space allocation. Space reconfiguration of the offices on the fourth and fifth
floors to support evolving court functions have been sensitively executed and have retained the
overall circulation patterns and location of principal original spaces on these floors, such as the
fifth-floor courtroom and lobby. Integrity of materials and workmanship is demonstrated
through the building’s original exterior materials, which include brick, concrete, metal, and
glass. On the interior, original materials survive in the main first-floor and fifth-floor court
lobbies, the elevator landings and main circulation corridors on each floor, and the original U.S.
District Courtroom. These include original curtain wall partitions and glazed brick flooring in the
main lobby, original walnut paneling and wall-mounted wood screens in the fifth-floor lobby and
courtroom, and original aluminum mail chutes, clocks, and civic display cases. Collectively,
these aspects allow the building to convey the feeling of a mid-century federal office building
and courthouse, and its association with the contexts of GSA Modernism and expansion,
postwar urban renewal in downtown Fayetteville, and the Modern Movement in Arkansas.

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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

_________________________________________________________________
8. Statement of Significance
Applicable National Register Criteria
(Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register
listing.)

X

A. Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the
broad patterns of our history.
B. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past.

X

C. Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of
construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values,
or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack
individual distinction.
D. Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or
history.

Criteria Considerations
(Mark “x” in all the boxes that apply.)
A. Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes
B. Removed from its original location
C. A birthplace or grave
D. A cemetery
E. A reconstructed building, object, or structure
F. A commemorative property
G. Less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years

Section 8 page 14

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Areas of Significance
(Enter categories from instructions.)
Community Planning and Development
Architecture
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
___________________
Period of Significance
1974
___________________
___________________
Significant Dates
1972 – start of construction
1974 – dedication
___________________
Significant Person
(Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.)
___________________
___________________
___________________
Cultural Affiliation
___________________
___________________
___________________
Architect/Builder
Warren D. Segraves, Fayetteville, AR (Architect)
Emcon, Inc., Sherman, TX (Builder)
___________________

Section 8 page 15

United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph
The Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse is locally significant under Criterion A in the Area
of Community Planning and Development, for its crucial role in Fayetteville's mid-twentiethcentury urban renewal, symbolizing the federal government's dedication to local economic
revitalization. Its downtown location, selected in accordance with Executive Order 11512 of
February 1970, helped consolidate federal offices and rejuvenate the city's core, highlighting the
impact of federal initiatives on community recovery and growth. The federal building is also
locally significant under Criterion C, in the Area of Architecture, for its innovative
combination of International Style and Brutalist elements, reflecting master architect Warren D.
Segraves's career development and the broader Modern Movement in Northwest Arkansas.
Completed in 1974, it showcases Segraves's talent for merging sleek, functional design with
bold, sculptural forms, marking an important phase in the city's architectural evolution and
serving as a notable example of postwar architecture in the region. The Period of Significance is
1974, the year that the building was completed and dedicated.
______________________________________________________________________________
Narrative Statement of Significance
Criterion A
The construction of the federal building is intricately linked to the urban renewal efforts that
transformed Fayetteville during the mid-twentieth century. In the 1960s, Fayetteville faced
challenges as businesses began relocating from the city’s historic town square, leading to a
decline in the vibrancy of the downtown area. Recognizing the need for revitalization, local
leaders initiated urban renewal planning aimed at rejuvenating the city’s core. The construction
of a new modern federal building in Fayetteville, from early planning phases, was seen by local
officials and the business community as critical to the recovery of the city’s stagnating
downtown. In addition, local newspaper editorials, beginning in the mid-1960s, frequently
referred to a new downtown federal building as central to the city’s urban renewal efforts,
referring to the project as an important “tool” for urban renewal that would “lend strength” to
downtown economic revitalization, while contributing to a unified “vision” for a renewed
downtown district.16
The development of the Federal Building was a pivotal component of downtown urban renewal
in Fayetteville, serving not only as a new home for federal offices but also as a symbol of the
federal government's commitment to supporting local economic growth. Specifically, the
building was developed following the release of Executive Order 11512 by President Nixon in
February of 1970, which required that new GSA construction projects align with local urban
renewal and economic revitalization initiatives. The effects of this directive were evident in the
site selection process, in which GSA initially selected a property in the fall of 1969 on the north
16 Allan Gilbert, Jr., “What About the Square,” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 7, 1965, 12.

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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

side of Fayetteville, removed from the central business district, but then chose a downtown site,
close to the historic town square, in the summer of 1970 (following the release of the Executive
Order) at the request Mayor Garland Melton, Jr. and the local business community. The editors
of the Northwest Arkansas Times referred to the choice of the downtown site as “vital to the
future character and prosperity of the central business district.”17 The subsequent property swap
between the City of Fayetteville and GSA, in which the city acquired the federally owned
historic town square and Old Post Office, further helped facilitate urban renewal plans for
downtown. Renewal of the town square and surrounding blocks at the center of downtown
Fayetteville, including the federal building site, stood at the core of the city’s efforts to
reinvigorate its central business district. For these reasons, the development of the building is
significant to the story of Fayetteville’s postwar renewal and federal initiatives during the early
1970s to aid local economic recovery efforts through facility development.
Criterion C
The federal building is significant for its innovative merger of International Style and Brutalist
influences, reflecting the maturation of master architect Warren D. Segraves's career and the
broader evolution of the Modern Movement in the region. Completed in 1974, the building
exemplifies Segraves's ability to synthesize the clean lines and functional aesthetic characteristic
of the International Style, which was a strong influence early in his career, with the bold,
sculptural forms and raw materials associated with Brutalism, which appeared locally beginning
in the mid-1960s. Warren Segraves was among the first designers in northwestern Arkansas to
promote and utilize the International-Style mode of modernism in his work. The Fayetteville
federal building utilizes his hallmark forms and materials seen in other important buildings he
designed and reflects a regional adaptation of modern architecture within the Ozarks setting. This
architectural dialogue not only highlights Segraves's growth as a designer but also marks a
pivotal moment in Fayetteville's postwar architectural landscape, reflecting the new directions in
Modernist design that emerged during this period. The use of large curtain walls and brick
cladding in the federal building demonstrates a thoughtful response to the local context, while
the imposing, windowless enclosures convey a sense of monumentality typical of Brutalist
design. The building, centrally located in downtown Fayetteville, serves as a notable and
prominent example of postwar Modernism in Fayetteville, illustrating the innovative approaches
taken by architects to meet the functional needs of federal agencies, while also contributing to
the city’s visual landscape.
Architect Warren D. Segraves stands out as a significant figure in Fayetteville's architectural
community, and the federal building is arguably his crowning achievement. Segraves was a
graduate of the University of Arkansas School of Architecture (1953), where he studied under
influential architect and founding faculty member John G. Williams during a formative period of
the local Modern Movement. This education, which included guest lectures by noted architects
such as Arkansas native Edward Durrell Stone, provided Segraves with a strong foundation in
17 “GSA Requested to Find New Site for Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 11, 1969, 2.

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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

modern design principles, which he would later apply to his own work. As a member of the
American Institute of Architects, and a contemporary and classmate of renowned Arkansas
architect E. Fay Jones, Segraves was part of a vibrant architectural community that sought to
redefine the built environment in Arkansas. His contributions were instrumental in shaping the
architectural landscape of Fayetteville during the transformative postwar period. In addition to
the Federal Building, Segraves designed several notable structures, including the Fulbright
Fayetteville Public Library (1961) at 217 East Dickson Street and the Southwest Electric Power
Company Division Office Building (1968) at 300 North College Avenue. The federal building,
with its striking design and thoughtful integration into the urban fabric, showcases Segraves's
ability to create structures that are both functional and visually compelling. The design also
reflects the final stage of Segraves’s evolution as a master architect, representing a diverse fusion
of Modern Movement influences that departs from the industrial, Miesian aesthetic that
characterized his early work. The building not only represents a significant local example of
postwar architecture but also serves as a testament to Segraves's legacy as an architect whose
influence continues to be felt in Fayetteville's architectural identity.
Historic Context
GSA Postwar Building Program and Modernism
The postwar period was an era of growth for the federal government, resulting in an increase in
funding, employees, and construction activity. Following a slowdown in new federal
construction during the Great Depression and World War II years, the economic expansion and
population growth of the postwar era placed considerable strain on publicly provided services
and existing facilities. By the mid-twentieth century, many federal facilities nationwide were no
longer able to provide the space, or the quality of facilities, required to accommodate the
growing number of government employees and agencies. To meet their needs, cramped federal
agencies often leased office space in multiple buildings, resulting in inefficient decentralized
operations that hindered the delivery of government services and were expensive to maintain.18
GSA was created in 1949 to enhance and modernize the building management and general
procurement services of the federal government. Guided by The Federal Property and
Administrative Services Act of 1949, GSA’s construction and property management functions
were placed within its Public Buildings Service division, which oversaw the design,
construction, maintenance, and enlargement of federal buildings across the United States.19 For
local projects in small to medium-sized cities, GSA selected local architects from within state
boundaries, while for higher profile projects in Washington, D.C., and other major cities, GSA
sought out well-known, national architecture firms. GSA placed great emphasis on economy of
design and construction during the postwar period, but architects were nevertheless afforded
18 Lois Craig et al., The Federal Presence: Architecture, Politics, and Symbols in United States Government

Building (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1978), 240, 438.
19 Judith H. Robinson and Stephanie S. Foell, Growth, Efficiency, and Modernism: GSA Buildings of the 1950s, 60s,
and ‘70s (Washington: General Services Administration, 2005), 28-30.
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OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

creative latitude in solving design problems, staying within the economic criteria of each project.
By 1958, GSA’s construction program had grown to over half a billion dollars, with over 125
design contracts being undertaken at that time.20
The Public Buildings Act of 1959 further bolstered the capacity of the Public Buildings Service
to undertake and manage federal building projects, and it allowed GSA to receive a direct
appropriation from Congress to fund its operations. GSA submitted proposals for new buildings
to Congress based on surveys undertaken across the country to assess the facilities requirements
of federal agencies and programs. These surveys gauged population growth, real estate trends,
infrastructure development, and other factors in identifying federal office space needs. Federal
construction activity increased dramatically following passage of the 1959 act, with over 7.7
million square feet of office space added between 1961 and 1962 alone. The wave of new federal
construction projects undertaken by GSA during the 1950s, 60s, and 70s included more than 700
new office buildings, courthouses, post offices, and other buildings that reflected to varying
degrees the government’s postwar aspirations to Modernism and design excellence.21 Frequently,
buildings were designed to accommodate multiple functions, combining postal, court, and office
spaces, each with its own design requirements. Postal workrooms were more industrial in feel,
while courtrooms were designed to communicate the power and authority of the federal
government through their iconography, materials, and finishes.22
This increase in federal construction coincided with the postwar phase of the Modern Movement
in the United States. Successful projects, such as the series of new federal office buildings
developed in Washington, D.C., during the early 1960s, and the Air Force Academy Campus and
Cadet Chapel in Colorado Springs, Colorado (1958-63, Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill),
reflected the government’s embrace of Modernism as an accepted and preferred design approach
for its expanding postwar construction program. Indicative of the government’s acceptance of
Modernism, President John F. Kennedy’s Ad Hoc Committee on Federal Office Space developed
the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture in 1962. The Guiding Principles constituted an
architectural policy statement that embraced modern design, the incorporation of fine art into
new buildings, and greater functionality. The principles sought to avoid an official government
architectural style, and to this end, GSA continued to retain private architects and rely on their
guidance in the areas of design and aesthetic direction. In 1962, GSA established the Fine Arts in
New Federal Buildings Program, which allocated a portion of GSA’s annual construction budget
for public art. The Guiding Principles also placed a renewed emphasis on site development,
resulting in landscaped plazas and courtyards at federal buildings. Choices regarding site
selection were to be made in cooperation with local agencies.23

20 L. L. Hunter, “GSA’s Design and Construction Program: A Half-Billion Dollars Worth of Buildings,” AIA

Journal 30, no. 3 (September 1958): 46-47.
21 Robinson and Foell, 6, 38-41.
22 Hunter, 48.
23 Robinson and Foell, 6-9, 42. Note: the Fine Arts in New Federal Buildings Program was the precursor to the Art
in Architecture Program, begun in 1972.
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National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Urban renewal also shaped the development of federal buildings after World War II. Beginning
in the 1950s and continuing into the 1970s, municipalities in the U.S. undertook large-scale,
publicly financed urban redevelopment campaigns, which often entailed the demolition of older
buildings that were replaced with Modernist architecture and public spaces.24
The Federal Courts in Arkansas
The United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas was established by an act
of Congress on March 3, 1851. The first term of court was held in Van Buren, with Judge Daniel
Ringo presiding. Initially, the court had jurisdiction over a vast area that included not only
western Arkansas but also parts of what was then known as Indian Territory (now Oklahoma).
This jurisdiction was necessitated by the instability and legal challenges arising from the
westward expansion and the Indian Removal Act of 1830. In 1854, two more counties in
Arkansas were incorporated into the district. Initially, a single judge oversaw both the eastern
and western judicial districts of Arkansas. However, in 1871, Congress created a distinct
judgeship for the Western District and relocated its headquarters from Van Buren to Fort Smith,
Arkansas.25
Architecturally, the federal courthouses constructed in Arkansas during the late nineteenth
century reflected the eclecticism of the era. Buildings in Little Rock (1881), Fort Smith (1889,
demolished 1936), Texarkana (1892), and Helena (1893) were ornate examples embodying the
characteristics of the Queene Anne, Romanesque Revival, and Italian Renaissance Revival
styles. This eclecticism continued into the early twentieth century with the Italian Renaissancestyle buildings in Harrison (1906) and Batesville (1907).26
Over the years, the court's capacity expanded to address increasing caseloads. In 1938, Congress
authorized an additional judgeship for both the Eastern and Western Districts of Arkansas.27
During this period, federal courthouses in Arkansas reflected neoclassical and Georgian Revival
architectural influences, and the buildings became less ornate and more simplified as the decade
advanced. These courthouses included buildings in El Dorado (1931), Little Rock (1932),
Texarkana (1933), and Fort Smith (1936).28
During the postwar period, the federal courts in Arkansas experienced significant growth and
development, marked by an increase in judicial capacity and the establishment of additional
judgeships to manage rising caseloads. This period saw the Western District of Arkansas expand
24 Robinson and Foell, 74.
25 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “United States District Court for the Western District of

Arkansas,” https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/united-states-district-court-for-the-western-district-ofarkansas-1162/ (accessed December 2024).
26 Federal Judicial Center, “Historic Federal Courthouses,” https://www.fjc.gov/history/courthouses/list (accessed
December 2024).
27 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “United States District Court for the Western District of
Arkansas,” https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/united-states-district-court-for-the-western-district-ofarkansas-1162/ (accessed December 2024).
28 Ibid.
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its jurisdiction and adapt to a more diverse array of civil and criminal cases, reflecting broader
societal changes and economic developments in the region. The modernization of the court
system was further underscored by the addition of judgeships in 1961 and 1984, enhancing the
Western District’s ability to address complex legal issues effectively. Today, the Western
District is served by three permanent district judges and two U.S. magistrates.29
Coinciding with this expansion of the federal courts in Arkansas, a second period of twentiethcentury courthouse construction occurred in the state between 1960 and 1974. The Federal
Building and U.S. Courthouse in Hot Springs (1960; Wittenburg, Delony & Davidson; NRHP
#15000205, listed 2015) is an International-style building featuring a combination of aluminumframed curtain walls and brick cladding. The Jacob Trieber Federal Building, United States Post
Office and United States Courthouse in Helena (1961; Edward F. Brueggeman and Elmer A.
Stuck & Associates; NRHP #15000204, listed 2015) is a Midcentury Modern building that
incorporates brick and limestone cladding along with a curtain-walled lobby. The George
Howard, Jr. Federal Building and United States Courthouse in Pine Bluff (1967; NRHP
#100000626, listed 2017) is a curtain-walled International-style building with dark tinted glass
spandrel panels and marble accents. The U.S. Post Office and Federal Building in Batesville
(1974; determined eligible) is a brick-clad Modernist building with narrow tinted window bays.30
The evolution of the United States District Court for the Western District of Arkansas reflects
both the historical and architectural developments of the region. Established in 1851, the court
has adapted to the changing legal landscape and increasing caseloads over the years, expanding
its jurisdiction and enhancing its judicial capacity. The architectural styles of the courthouses,
ranging from the ornate designs of the late nineteenth century to the more streamlined forms of
the mid-twentieth century, illustrate the broader trends in American architecture and the shifting
priorities of the judicial system. Today, the Western District continues to serve as a vital
institution and its courthouses stand as enduring symbols of the federal presence in Arkansas.
Growth and Development of Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas, has a rich and multifaceted history that traces its evolution from a small
settlement to a thriving city, particularly throughout the twentieth century. Washington County
was established in 1828. The town of Washington Courthouse was the county seat, but the name
was changed to Fayetteville in 1829 when a post office was established. Fayetteville was
incorporated in 1870, and the city quickly emerged as a focal point for cultural, educational, and
economic growth in the region. The establishment of the University of Arkansas in 1872 marked
a significant milestone in the city’s development. This institution attracted students and faculty
from across the state and beyond, fostering educational advancement and contributing to the
local economy. The university's presence not only enhanced the cultural landscape of
29 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “United States District Court for the Western District of

Arkansas,” https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/united-states-district-court-for-the-western-district-ofarkansas-1162/ (accessed December 2024).
30 Ibid.
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Fayetteville but also positioned it as a center for innovation, research, and community
engagement.31
In the nineteenth century, Fayetteville's transportation relied primarily on wagons, stagecoaches,
horses, and buggies, alongside rail service from the St. Louis & San Francisco Railway
Company (SLSF). The Pacific & Great Eastern Railroad Company, established in 1884, built a
line to Wyman but struggled against the SLSF's competing branch line. By 1900, the Ozark &
Cherokee Central Railway was built westward to Westville, Oklahoma, later extending to
Tahlequah and Muskogee before being acquired by the SLSF. These railroads significantly
contributed to Fayetteville's economic development by enhancing commodity transport and
offering passenger service.32
The Fayetteville Square, bordered by Center, East, Block, and Mountain streets, has served as a
center of commercial activity since the city's inception. The square was home to the county
courthouse from the 1830s until 1905. The original brick courthouse, built in 1854, was
destroyed during the Civil War. A new brick courthouse was constructed in 1868 and remained
in use until the current Washington County Courthouse was completed in 1905 at the intersection
of College and Center streets. The building now known as the Old Post Office was erected in the
center of the square in 1911.33
As the twentieth century progressed, Fayetteville experienced substantial physical development,
particularly in its downtown area and infrastructure. The early 1900s also saw concerted efforts
to improve transportation and communication systems, which were vital for the city’s growth.
This period also marked the beginning of significant changes in transportation, as the city
transitioned from reliance on railroads to the burgeoning automobile industry. Fayetteville
initiated its first street paving efforts in 1917, paving twenty-five miles over the next decade at a
cost of $500,000. Initially, trucks were limited to making short deliveries and pickups in dry
weather, but eventually, regular truck lines were established to Huntsville, Springdale, and
Winslow, enhancing local transportation options. The first permanent airport was established in
1929, which played a crucial role during World War II when it was utilized for training pilots
and instructors.34
The post-World War II era brought about dramatic changes in Fayetteville's economy and
infrastructure. Following World War II, a significant influx of veterans arrived at the University
of Arkansas to benefit from the GI Bill. The population of Fayetteville was recorded at 8,212 in

31 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “Fayetteville (Washington County),”

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/fayetteville-1006/ (accessed December 2024).
32 Ibid.
33 Rex Nelson, “The Fayetteville Square is Still the Heart and Soul of Downtown,” Talk Business & Politics,
September 9, 2014, https://talkbusiness.net/2014/09/the-fayetteville-square-is-still-the-heart-and-soul-of-downtown/
(accessed December 2024).
34 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “Fayetteville (Washington County),”
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/fayetteville-1006/ (accessed December 2024).
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the 1940 census, but by the 1950 census, it had surged to 17,071 residents.35 Significant growth
in production led to poultry becoming the primary agricultural product in Fayetteville by the
1950s. The city began developing an industrial park in 1970 to centralize and diversify its
industries, which included poultry, dairy, electrical equipment, automotive components, and
various manufacturing sectors. This diversification was essential for the city's economic
resilience and growth, allowing it to adapt to changing market demands. Additionally,
Fayetteville was one of the first cities in the South to desegregate its school systems, reflecting
broader social changes occurring across the nation during the Civil Rights Movement.36
Fayetteville’s downtown retail district, historically clustered around the city’s historic town
square, site of the Old Post Office, was experiencing a significant decline by the mid-1960s,
marked by a series of challenges that led to a decrease in its vibrancy and economic activity. As
retailers began to abandon the downtown area in favor of strip shopping centers and the newly
developed Northwest Arkansas Mall, the square became increasingly desolate. This shift in
consumer behavior resulted in a dramatic drop in occupancy rates, with reports indicating that at
one point, only twenty percent of the retail spaces were occupied.37
Planning and Construction of the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse
In the fall of 1964, the Fayetteville City Council retained a city planning consultant to explore
ways to revitalize the city’s aging downtown commercial district. Businesses were relocating
away from downtown, causing establishments in the traditional business district to become
“antiquated” and “empty,” as described in a 1965 editorial in the Northwest Arkansas Times. The
newspaper’s editors identified the need for an urban renewal plan for Fayetteville and observed
that:
Tools for urban renewal are found in many places. An important tool is unity of
design and purpose. On the horizon in Fayetteville loom such projects as a
Federal Building and Courthouse; a County Courthouse; a Civic Auditorium;
perhaps even a new Chamber of Commerce and City Administration building.
Handled with vision and care these things can lend strength to each other and to
the overall aspect of urban renewal, particularly in the business area.38
In July 1965, the Chamber of Commerce established a new program called “Forward
Fayetteville” to identify planning and urban renewal goals and to create committees to study

35 Rex Nelson, “The Fayetteville Square is Still the Heart and Soul of Downtown,” Talk Business & Politics,

September 9, 2014, https://talkbusiness.net/2014/09/the-fayetteville-square-is-still-the-heart-and-soul-of-downtown/
(accessed December 2024).
36 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “Fayetteville (Washington County),”
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/fayetteville-1006/ (accessed December 2024).
37 Rex Nelson, “The Fayetteville Square is Still the Heart and Soul of Downtown,” Talk Business & Politics,
September 9, 2014, https://talkbusiness.net/2014/09/the-fayetteville-square-is-still-the-heart-and-soul-of-downtown/
(accessed December 2024).
38 Allan Gilbert, Jr., “What About the Square,” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 7, 1965, 12.
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individual projects.39 A Fayetteville Civitan Club meeting was held in September 1965,
presenting a study of Little Rock’s urban renewal program.40 At an April 1966 meeting of the
Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce, the organization’s public buildings committee presented a
report on a proposal to develop a city auditorium in partnership with the University of Arkansas.
Also discussed at the meeting was the lack of progress in developing a federal building and
courthouse.41 In May, the Chamber created a booklet under the auspices of the Forward
Fayetteville program, outlining the need for a new federal building, which Senator J. William
Fulbright presented to GSA. The booklet summarized the area’s economy and provided
projections for business and population growth by 1975 in arguing for the need for a new federal
building.42 In May 1967, graduate students at the University of Arkansas architecture program
prepared an exhibit detailing an urban renewal plan that included a regional shopping center,
civic auditorium, federal building and courthouse, city administration building, regional bus
terminal, downtown housing, and a student housing complex.43
One year later, in May 1968, the House Public Works Committee and the Senate Committee on
Public Works approved a prospectus submitted by GSA outlining the construction of a new
federal building in Fayetteville. GSA’s prospectus proposed a 51,900 square-foot building to
house the U.S. Courts and other federal agencies, at an estimated cost of $2,006,000. A site had
not been selected at this time. Authorization to locate facilities for a U.S. District Court in
Fayetteville had been approved several years prior, in September of 1965, by the Administrative
Office of the U.S. Courts. Establishment of the court could not proceed at that time, however,
because the existing federal building (Old Post Office) could not be converted economically for
court use. At the time that Congress approved the GSA prospectus in 1968, federal agencies in
Fayetteville were occupying 6,000 square feet of space in the Old Post Office, and an additional
32,800 square feet of space in ten leased buildings at an annual cost of $65,588.44
In November 1969, GSA approved a site for the new federal building on property owned by the
Veterans Administration, located south of the U.S. Army Reserve Training Center on Woolsey
Avenue. A staff report prepared for the Fayetteville Planning Commission and the Fayetteville
City Manager found that the proposed site conflicted with the city’s comprehensive land-use and
transportation plans, and that it would generate heavy traffic in what was then a largely
residential area. The site was also at odds with the city’s urban renewal efforts to revitalize the
central business district. The Commission voted to give the community the opportunity to
propose alternate sites, and Fayetteville Mayor Garland Melton, Jr., urged GSA to consider
downtown properties.45 GSA representatives subsequently agreed to the mayor’s request, and
39 Allan Gilbert, Jr., “A Partnership of Great Promise,” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 7, 1965, 12.
40 “Civitans Hear Talk on Urban Renewal,” Northwest Arkansas Times, September 1, 1965, 7.
41 “Joint U-A Auditorium Urged,” Northwest Arkansas Times, April 7, 1966, 3.
42 “Need for New Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 17, 1966, 5.
43 “Ideas and Proposals,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 23, 1967, 4.
44 “Federal Building Approved, But…,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 10, 1968, 1.
45 “Downtown Site for Federal Building Sought by City Officials, Planners,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November

5, 1969, 1-2; “Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 15, 1969, 4.
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several weeks later traveled to Fayetteville, where they inspected two proposed downtown sites.
These included a site west of Block Avenue between Center and Meadow streets, and a site
south of Mountain Street between College and East avenues.46 Reporting on these developments,
the Northwest Arkansas Times noted that:
The city and the business community are hopeful the Federal Building, which
would house a Federal Court and about 16 offices, can be located near the
downtown area. It and the county courthouse are considered vital to the future
character and prosperity of the central business district.47
The courthouse and the federal building would complement each other and make
it possible for many professional offices and businesses to remain in the general
area of the Square.48
In July 1970, GSA approved the final site for the federal building, bounded by Mountain
and Rock streets, College Avenue, and an alley (Figure 5). The civic organization
Downtown Fayetteville Unlimited was working to underwrite the purchase of the
property as a trustee, on behalf of the City of Fayetteville. As part of the plan to acquire
the site, GSA agreed to trade the federally owned site of the Old Post Office on the
historic Fayetteville town square, for the 2.2-acre tract. Once the trade was completed,
the Fayetteville Housing Authority (the city’s urban renewal agency) planned to demolish
the historic Old Post Office building and convert the square into a downtown park. The
federal building tract was composed of multiple small parcels owned by six different
property owners.49 Commenting on the planned property swap, the editors of the
Northwest Arkansas Times noted that:
Securing the federal facility in a central location, as Mayor Garland Melton has
observed, provides instant impetus to a laggard urban renewal program. That, in
turn, should open the door for needed traffic flow improvements. These
developments, in conjunction with utilization of the property inside the city
Square for enhancement of the downtown shopping area – another big plus in the
federal building package – lead with considerable certainty to a general upgrading
of the city’s tax base and its overall economic health. Such benefits can hardly be
overestimated.50
Congress included funds in the annual 1970 GSA appropriation for architectural and
engineering services for the new federal building.51 GSA awarded the contract to design
46 “Downtown Sites Under Study for Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 21, 1969, 2.
47 “GSA Requested to Find New Site for Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 11, 1969, 2.
48 “Downtown Site for Federal Building Sought by City Officials, Planners,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November

5, 1969, 2.
49 “Federal Building Site Purchase Under Way,” Northwest Arkansas Times, July 2, 1970, 1.
50 “Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, August 14, 1970, 4.
51 “Funds for Federal Building Planning are Anticipated,” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 20, 1970, 1.
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the federal building to Fayetteville architect Warren D. Segraves on September 1, 1970.
The projected cost to develop the facility was estimated at $1,834,800, with completion
of the architectural plans tentatively scheduled for the fall of 1971, and construction
projected to begin in December of that year.52
The formal transfer of properties between Downtown Fayetteville Unlimited and GSA
took place in a ceremony held at the Old Post Office on October 2, 1971. In attendance
were Sen. John L. McClellan, Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt, Rep. William Alexander,
Rep. David Pryor, GSA administrator Robert L. Kunzig, and Gov. Dale Bumpers.53 GSA
unveiled the final architectural drawings for the building at the ceremony.54 The
Northwest Arkansas Times published a rendering of the building on October 4, 1971
(Figure 4).55
In 1971, Congress appropriated $2,067,000 for the building’s construction.56 In addition
to the federal courts and U.S. Marshals Service, federal tenants planned for the new
building included the Departments of Agriculture; Defense; Justice; Labor; Treasury;
Health, Education, and Welfare; Civil Service Commission; and the Selective Service
System.57
GSA opened bidding for the site clearance and construction contracts in November
1971.58 GSA accepted bids in January of 1972, but then subsequently announced that the
bids received all exceeded the funds available for the project. Following “sizable
revisions” to the plans by Warren Segraves, the GSA regional office at Fort Worth, Texas
opened a second round of bidding in April of 1972, inviting revised proposals from the
initial six bidders.59 On May 11, 1972, GSA awarded the contract to Emcon, Inc. of
Sherman, Texas, who submitted the lowest bid of $2,182,430.60
By June of 1972, site preparation was underway (Figure 7), and the Northwest Arkansas
Times published a photograph of buildings on the site being demolished and cleared
(Figure 6).61 Site work had been completed, and excavations for the foundation were
underway in August.62 The basement foundation had been mostly completed by
December 1972 (Figure 8). The first story was under construction in January 1973
(Figure 9). The structural framework of the upper floors was in the process of being
52 “Segraves to Design New Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, September 1, 1970, 1.
53 “Formal Ceremonies Will Mark Property Exchange,” Northwest Arkansas Times, September 29, 1971, 1.
54 “Plans for Federal Building to be Unveiled,” Northwest Arkansas Times, October 1, 1971, 1.
55 “New Fayetteville Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, October 4, 1971, 1.
56 Treasury, Postal Service, and General Government Appropriation Act, 1972. Public Law 92-49, July 9, 1971,
92nd Cong., 1st sess., 116.
57 Kenneth B. Dalecki, “Funds Asked for Federal Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, January 29, 1971, 1.
58 “Bids Accepted for Federal Building Here,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 10, 1971, 2.
59 “New Bids on Federal Building Set After Offerings Rejected,” Northwest Arkansas Times, March 10, 1972, 1.
60 “Federal Building Contract Set,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 9, 1972, 1.
61 “Site Preparation,” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 16, 1972, 1.
62 “New Federal Building Rising,” Northwest Arkansas Times, August 24, 1972, 1.

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erected by September 1973 (Figure 10). Exterior concrete and brick work was underway
by October and the curtain walls were being installed by November (Figure 11). By
February 1974, the exterior of the building had been mostly completed (Figure 12). Work
continued through the spring and summer of 1974 (Figures 13-15). Federal agencies
began moving into the building during the first week of October 1974, as workmen were
completing final finishing of floors, walls, windows, and doors, and the American flag
was raised in front of the building for the first time.63
The federal building was formally dedicated on November 8, 1974 (Figure 16). Speaking
at the ceremony were Sen. John L. McClellan, Rep. John Paul Hammerschmidt, and
federal judges J. Smith Henley and Paul X. Williams. GSA regional administrator Jay
Bolton served as the master of ceremonies.64 In February 1975, President Ford requested
an additional $89,000 from Congress for improvements to the federal building (possibly
to complete the courtroom although not specified).65 The federal courtroom on the
building’s fifth floor was dedicated on May 1, 1975.66
Urban Renewal, the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, and the Fayetteville Town
Square
Urban renewal, in its most specific definition, originated as a concept advocated by
President Eisenhower’s Advisory Committee on Housing and was later included in the
Housing Act of 1954. Its intent was to promote a more comprehensive approach to
preventing the growth of slums. More generally, urban renewal encompassed a wide
array of interconnected national and local policies, programs, and projects that were
implemented in most American cities between 1949 and 1973. These initiatives often
involved extensive redevelopment efforts aimed at modernizing housing, improving
highway infrastructure, revitalizing commercial and business districts, and undertaking
other large-scale construction projects. When viewed in a broader context, urban renewal
also reflected the often-unfulfilled aspirations of reformers from the Progressive Era to
the Great Society, who aimed to address poverty and inequality in urban areas primarily
through the physical transformation of the built environment.67
Urban retailers endured significant hardships during the Great Depression and the
rationing of World War II, only to face further challenges from the postwar consumer
migration to the suburbs. Many businesses closed down, while others pivoted from
traditional downtown flagship stores to suburban shopping malls. However, some
retailers leveraged urban renewal strategies to reshape their urban presence. Rochester,
63 “New Federal Building Opens,” Northwest Arkansas Times, October 10, 1974, 1.
64 “Dedication of New Federal Building Held,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 8, 1974, 1.
65 “Funds Asked for Area,” Northwest Arkansas Times, February 3, 1975, 1.
66 “Federal Courtroom Dedication Set,” Northwest Arkansas Times, April 25, 1975, 5.
67 Christopher Klemek, “National Urban Renewal,” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History,

https://oxfordre.com/americanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.001.0001/acrefore-9780199329175e-147 (accessed February 2025).
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New York marked the first opportunity for shopping mall architect Victor Gruen to apply
his "green field" design concepts within a historic urban core. With support from city
officials and two prominent department stores, Midtown Plaza (1958–1962) transformed
fourteen city blocks into an enclosed shopping mall featuring parking, a hotel, an office
tower, and even an auditorium. Similarly, on a smaller scale, local government and
business leaders collaborated to fund the conversion of Burdick Street in Kalamazoo,
Michigan into North America's first permanent pedestrian mall between 1958 and 1959.68
The highwater mark for federal engagement with urban affairs came during the Lyndon
B. Johnson administration (1963–1969). Urban renewal programs dovetailed with his
larger agenda for the Great Society, including “war on poverty” initiatives of the Office
of Economic Opportunity. This era reached an important milestone with the
establishment of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1965,
marking the first cabinet-level agency focused on coordinating urban policy. However,
despite overcoming numerous political and legal challenges in Washington, urban
renewal projects encountered ongoing difficulties both during and after their
implementation. Given the backdrop of civil rights activism at the time, it is not
surprising that many of these disputes centered on racial issues. Calls for greater
empowerment of impoverished minority communities amid extensive urban renewal
projects led to the launch of the Model Cities initiative in 1966, which aimed for
"maximum feasible participation" of citizens in the urban planning process. Although the
initiative was conceived with a radically democratic approach, it ultimately gave rise to
complex power struggles among community organizers, city officials, and federal
representatives. These conflicts often proved irreconcilable, especially when intersected
by racial tensions. As a result, the Johnson administration not only marked the zenith of
urban renewal efforts from the preceding two decades but also heralded the beginning of
their decline.69
By the early 1970s, Washington's policymakers had become increasingly conservative
and along with academics such as Edward Banfield of Harvard University, were
becoming more skeptical of the ability of urban renewal programs to address community
revitalization. The Nixon administration began a critical examination of the effectiveness
of urban renewal initiatives in an effort to reform these programs. In 1973, Nixon
declared a moratorium on funding for traditional public housing, replacing deep subsidies
for new construction with voucher programs and block grants to local governments.70
The community engagement and site selection process for the new federal building
exemplified the goals of urban renewal and federal programs of the era, which focused on
constructing federal buildings to support local revitalization initiatives. As part of
Fayetteville’s urban renewal plan for downtown, the federal building was in accord with
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid.
70 Ibid.

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an Executive Order issued by President Nixon to urge the use of federal construction aid
for community redevelopment projects, an alternative approach to promoting investment
in America’s cities aimed at leveraging the economic benefits of GSA’s massive postwar
building program.71 Executive Order 11512, dated February 27, 1970, required that GSA:
…coordinate proposed programs and plans for buildings and space in a manner
designed to exert a positive economic and social influence on the development or
redevelopment of the areas in which such facilities will be located.
The text of the Executive Order also mandated that:
Consideration shall be given in the selection of sites for Federal facilities to the
need for development and redevelopment of areas and the development of new
communities, and the impact a selection will have on improving social and
economic conditions in the area.
The order also required that new federal construction be “consistent with state, regional,
and local plans and programs” for urban renewal.72 This new policy represented a form of
economic urban renewal, as opposed to the heavier-handed approach being pursued in
Arkansas cities such as Pine Bluff, which was aimed at eliminating urban blight.
In 1970, Senators John W. Fulbright and John L. McClellan assisted in applying for
urban renewal funds.73 An official reservation of a $3 million grant for an urban renewal
project at Fayetteville’s downtown core and surrounding residential area was made, and a
proposal for $3.4 million was subsequently approved.74 The Old Post Office on the
square closed July 1, 1972.75 Historically, business was conducted primarily at the
square, but it was in decline. The closing of The Old Post Office coincided with other
businesses finally deciding to leave the square, further exposing a need for revitalization
of the area.
The City of Fayetteville hired the Urban Programming Corp. of St. Louis to develop
plans for the square in 1971. Three plans for the square were devised, and the most
favored of those plans was developed further and presented in November 1972. The plan
included demolishing the Old Post Office and using bricks from the building to construct
sidewalks. The intention was to create a central plaza and pedestrian mall.76
71 “Plans for Federal Building to be Unveiled,” Northwest Arkansas Times, October 1, 1971, 1.
72 The American Presidency Project, “Executive Order 11512 – Planning, Acquisition, and Management of Federal

Space,” February 27, 1970, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-11512-planningacquisition-and-management-federal-space (accessed December 2024).
73 “Resolutions Thank Arkansas Senators,” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 30, 1970, 2.
74 “New Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, January 22, 1971,13, 16; “By Regional Planning Commission - $3.9
Million Water-Sewer Plan Okayed,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 28, 1971,1-2.
75 “Postal Service To Close Old Station On The Square,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 23, 1972, 1.
76 “Architects Unveil Facelift Plan For Downtown Fayetteville,” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 18, 1972, 12.
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Resistance to the demolition of the Old Post Office grew, with the community fighting to
save the building.77 Suggestions included using the building as city hall. The City Board
of Directors refused to take a stance on the fate of the building.78 As urban renewal got
underway, it was initially mostly in the form of a drainage project and home
rehabilitation.79 Community resistance to the demolition of the Old Post Office
contributed to a delay in the progression of the project at the square, and as of June 1974,
the City was getting pushback from HUD due to the lack of progress.80 In July 1974, the
Fayetteville Housing Authority, City Board of Directors, and the State Urban Renewal
representative met to discuss amending the Downtown Fayetteville Urban Renewal Plan
in response to the push to save the Old Post Office.81 Preliminary plans for the Square
were subsequently approved by the Fayetteville Housing Authority to prevent losing the
HUD grant due to lack of progress.82
The community was eventually successful in their efforts to save the building. The Old
Post Office was listed in the National Register on August 27, 1974. Ultimately, the
building was sold based on the proposed long-term use, not the highest monetary offer.
The building is now restored and serves as a restaurant, breathing life into the square. The
Post Office project in the 1970s kickstarted the revitalization of the central square area
and was indirectly tied to the construction of the new federal building, another key
element in promoting urban renewal efforts in downtown Fayetteville.83
Subsequent History
The construction of the federal building significantly impacted the growth and prosperity
of the area's economy, as well as the physical development and design of the community.
It facilitated the consolidation of federal offices within the building and brought together
various government services with nearby county offices. Original tenants included
several key federal agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Soil
Conservation Service, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee, Federal
Housing Authority, and the marketing service of the Fruits and Vegetables Division of
the Department of Agriculture, among others. The Labor Department, Social Security,
GSA, the U.S. District Court, and congressional offices for the third district, including an
office leased by Representative John Paul Hammerschmidt, were also housed in the
building. Since 1974, the Fayetteville federal building has served as the U.S. District
Court for the Western District of Arkansas. In 1992, the building was renamed in honor
77 “The Square,” Northwest Arkansas Times, March 17, 1974, 4.
78 “Save The Post Office Group Schedules Meet,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 21, 1974, 5; “Board Refuses To

Take Stand On Building,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 22, 1974, 1-2.
79 “City’s Landscape Changes During ’73,” Northwest Arkansas Times, January 22, 1974, 17.
80 “The Post Office: Everyone Wants To Save It, But How?” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 16, 1974, 1-2.
81 “To Discuss UR Amendment – Meeting On Post Office Set,” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 20, 1974,1-2.
82 “Housing Authority Approves Plan For Square’s Face-Lift,” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 4, 1973, 1-2.
83 “Old Post Office restoration brings vitality to Fayetteville,” Baxter Bulletin [Mountain Home, Arkansas],
September 27, 1979, 19, 22.
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of John Paul Hammerschmidt, who represented Fayetteville in Congress for thirteen
terms.84
Architect Warren D. Segraves and the Postwar Modern Movement in Fayetteville
The Fayetteville federal building arguably represents the pinnacle of architect Warren D.
Segraves’s career, and the building reflects the stylistic trends and approaches to design that
shaped the architecture of postwar Arkansas. Warren Dennis Segraves (1924-78) was born in
Oskaloosa, Kansas. His family moved to Fayetteville when he was a small child. During World
War II, he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, attaining the rank of Captain. Segraves married in
1946 and briefly worked for his father’s trucking company before enrolling in the University of
Arkansas, where he initially majored in civil engineering before transferring to the architecture
program, where he studied under noted local Modernist John G. Williams.85 Williams, the
founding faculty member of the University of Arkansas architecture school, invited Arkansas
native Edward Durrell Stone and other important architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero
Saarinen, and Charles Eames to lecture at the university.86 In addition, Segraves was a classmate
of renowned Arkansas architect E. Fay Jones. Segraves graduated from the University of
Arkansas with a bachelor's degree in architecture in 1953. He began his career working as a
draftsman at the firms of Swaim & Allen in Little Rock, Arkansas (1953-54), Ashby & Bond in
Madisonville, Kentucky (1955-56), and Mott, Mobley & Horstmann in Fort Smith, Arkansas
(1956-57). In 1958, Segraves and his family returned to Fayetteville, where he opened his own
architecture practice, known as Warren D. Segraves, Architects. That year, Segraves became a
member of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.87 Just before his death,
in 1978, Segraves partnered with his son-in-law, engineer O. Michael Green, to form Warren D.
Segraves & Associates.88
With beneficial connections in the local business community, Segraves secured numerous
commissions in the greater Fayetteville area, designing homes as well as various commercial,
public, and religious buildings. His principal works included:
● Cazort-Johnston Allergy Clinic in Little Rock (1957, demolished)
● Farmington High School (1959, demolished)
● Warren Segraves House at 217 North Oklahoma Way in Fayetteville (1959, NRHP
#100001016, listed 2017)
● St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church at 603 North Leverett Avenue in Fayetteville
(1960)
● Roberta Fulbright Public Library at 217 East Dickson Street in Fayetteville (1961)
84 Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building Preservation Plan, 14.
85 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “Warren Dennis Segraves (1924-1978),”

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/warren-dennis-segraves-6745/ (accessed November 2024).
86 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “John Gilbert Williams (1915-2008),”
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/john-gilbert-williams-7598/ (accessed November 2024).
87 George S. Koyl, ed., American Architects Directory, 2nd ed. (New York: AIA, 1962), 630.
88 “Display Advertisement,” Northwest Arkansas Times, February 26, 1978, 25.
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● Wesley Foundation Chapel (1962, demolished)
● Vernon Fitzhugh House at 1551 East Hope Street in Fayetteville (1962, NRHP
#100001015, listed 2017)
● Dr. Charles H. Kennedy House at 6 Edenwood Lane in North Little Rock (1964, NRHP #
100001651, listed 2017)
● Unitarian Universalist Church at 901 Cleveland Street in Fayetteville (1964)
● Trenton Diagnostic Clinic at 38 West Trenton Blvd. in Fayetteville (c. 1964)
● M.O. Ramay Jr. High School at 401 South Sang Avenue in Fayetteville (1966)
● Butterfield Trail Elementary School in Fayetteville (1967, demolished)
● M. O. Ramay Junior High School at 401 South Sang Avenue in Fayetteville (1967)
● St. Raphael’s Catholic Church at 1386 South West End Street in Springdale (1967)
● Boone County Medical Center at 651 North Spring Street in Harrison, Arkansas (1968)
● Southwest Electric Power Company Division Office Building at 300 North College
Avenue in Fayetteville (1968)
● Saint Paul High School at 232 Fourth Street in Saint Paul (1970)
● Fincher and Hutson Medical Building at 2100 Green Acres Road in Fayetteville (1972)
● Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Fayetteville (1974)
● First Federal Savings and Loan Association Building at 112 West Center Street in
Fayetteville (1977)
● University of Arkansas Continuing Education Center at 2 East Center Street in
Fayetteville (1981).89
Warren Segraves and his contemporaries began to explore Modernist design approaches in their
work during the 1950s. The Fine Arts Center at the University of Arkansas (1951, Edward Durell
Stone) was one of the first educational facilities in the country to combine multiple disciplines of
the fine arts, including art, architecture, music, and theater, into one building. Often compared to
the Bauhaus complex in Dessau, Germany (1926), designed by Walter Gropius, the Fines Arts
Center embodies the minimalist, box-like forms of the International Style, and is noted for its
large glass walls and open layout that foster collaboration among different art disciplines.90
The David and Mary Margaret Durst House (1952, John G. Williams) at 857 West Fairview
Street was one of the first Modern Movement residences constructed in Fayetteville after World
War II. David Durst was the head of the university’s art department, who helped usher in a new
awareness of art and design to northwest Arkansas. Distinguished by its simple, non-traditional
appearance and long articulated mass, the house is clad in smooth tongue-and-groove cypress
boards, and it features a flat-roofed form and high clerestory windows. The construction of the

89 American Architects Directory (1962), 630; The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “Warren Dennis

Segraves (1924-1978),” https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/warren-dennis-segraves-6745/ (accessed
November 2024); John F. Gane and George S. Koyl, eds., American Architects Directory, 3rd ed. (New York: AIA,
1970), 821.
90 Cyrus A. Sutherland et al., Buildings of Arkansas (Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2018), 5159.
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dwelling was privately financed, as local lenders were hesitant to embrace what was considered a
highly unconventional house design in Fayetteville at the time.91
The E. Fay and Elizabeth Jones House (1956, E. Fay Jones) at 1330 North Hillcrest Avenue is
another important example of early postwar modern architecture in Fayetteville. Designed after
his brief tenure in the office of Frank Lloyd Wright, Jones created a harmonious blend of stone,
wood, and glass, seamlessly integrated into the natural landscape. The deeply overhanging roof
enhances the connection between the house and its environment, embodying the essence of
organic design and promoting unity with nature. A bronze abstract sculpture by Jones stands at
the entrance to the curved driveway.92
The influence of Wright is also evident in the Underwood Building at 611 West Dickson Street,
another important example of modern architecture in Fayetteville, designed by Jones. The twostory commercial building, completed in 1966, features a dark brick exterior and a flat roof with
wide overhang supported by brick columns. The entrance is deeply recessed and the façade
features large plate glass windows at both floors, with the west bay projecting forward under the
roof overhang.93
Like his colleague E. Fay Jones, Segraves was also influenced by Wright, but his early work
expressed a particular preference for the International Style, and the minimalist glass and steel
compositions of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, which came to characterize much of his early
portfolio. The origins of the International Style can be traced to the work of the Deutscher
Werkbund, an association of German artists, architects, and industrial designers founded in 1907
and led by director Mies van der Rohe. The early work of Mies van der Rohe, Peter Behrens, and
other architects associated with the Werkbund, was starkly industrial in feel and conveyed the
ideas of the new emerging architecture. In 1919, architect Walter Gropius established the
Bauhaus, an art and design school that furthered the development of the International Style and
its emphasis on mass production and functionality. The main building at the Bauhaus’ campus in
Dessau, Germany (1926, Walter Gropius) embodies the flat-roofed, box-like forms, extensive
use of glazing, and lack of ornamentation that would come to characterize the International
Style.94
The basic design principles of the International Style – emphasis upon volume and planar
surfaces, regularity as opposed to symmetry, and a dependence on modern materials and
technical perfection over ornament – were articulated by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell
Hitchcock in the publication accompanying their 1932 exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art

91 Sutherland et al., 62.
92 Sutherland et al., 54; The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “E. Fay and Gus Jones House,”

https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/e-fay-and-gus-jones-house-8132/ (accessed December 2024).
93 Sutherland et al., 55.
94 Hasan-Uddin Khan, International Style: Modernist Architecture From 1925 to 1965 (Los Angeles: Taschen,
2009), 11-20.
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in New York.95 By the early postwar period, the International Style had emerged as the preferred
aesthetic for the design of private sector office buildings, and it was also used for the design of
federal government buildings, particularly during the late 1950s to mid-1960s.96
The Miesian aesthetic that Segraves explored in his early work, which featured a clear
expression of structure (often rendered in steel and glass), emphasis on clean lines, lack of
ornament, open flexible floorplans, and a blurring of the boundaries between exterior and interior
through the extensive use of glazing and natural lighting, was relatively rare in the state of
Arkansas during the 1950s and 1960s. Aside from Segraves, only three other Arkansas
architects, Ernie Jacks (1925-2020), Robert Wanslow (1929-2023), and Dietrich Neyland (19142009), designed in a similar vocabulary.97 Several buildings in Fayetteville designed by Warren
Segraves highlight the Miesian aesthetic and the influence of the International Style within his
early portfolio. Among them is the house that Segraves designed for himself and his family at
217 North Oklahoma Way in Fayetteville. Completed in 1959, the starkly modern house features
low, Modernist lines, an exposed steel structural frame, a distinctive folded roofline, and
expansive glazing. The house, with its simple modern palette of materials, recalls the influential
designs for the Case Study Houses in California, sponsored by Arts and Architecture magazine
during the early postwar years, particularly those designed by Craig Ellwood. Segraves placed
the house close to the street, with its main entrance discreetly located within the eastern slope of
the site. The main interior spaces were oriented to face scenic views of the city of Fayetteville to
the west, with deep roof overhangs to mitigate late afternoon solar heating. The architectural
language of the exterior continues into the high-ceilinged interior, which features an upper
balcony with thin steel handrails and an open steel-framed stair from the entry level into the
living room. Interior materials such as concrete block walls and an exposed steel ceiling structure
create an industrial ambiance in the Modernist mid-century dwelling.98
In 1961, shortly after completing the residence, Segraves was commissioned to design the
Roberta Fulbright Fayetteville Public Library, located at 217 East Dickson Street. The library is a
significant local example of the International Style, notable for its low-slung modern form and
minimalist Miesian aesthetic, which is conveyed through black-painted exposed steel framing
and curtain wall glazing.99 The library moved to a new facility in 2004, and the building was
subsequently rehabilitated for use as office space by Fayetteville architect Marlon Blackwell. In

95 Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style, 3rd ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995),

29.
96 Robinson and Foell, 14, 25-27.
97 Personal communication, Jesse M. Toms, Architectural Historian, Environmental Division, Arkansas
Department of Transportation, February 14, 2025.
98 Sutherland et al., 51-52.
99 The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, “Warren Dennis Segraves (1924-1978),”
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/warren-dennis-segraves-6745/ (accessed November 2024).
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a 2009 issue of Architectural Record, Blackwell described Segraves’s library design as “sleek
and classically modern.”100
The Vernon Fitzhugh House, constructed in 1962, is another example within Segraves’s early
portfolio that conveys strong International-Style influences. Situated on a sloping site elevated
above Hope Street in Fayetteville, the house displays a unique T-shaped plan, consisting of a
two-story appearance from the front and a one-story profile from the back. Like the Fulbright
Library, the massing of the house is low and horizontal, and it features a wide roof overhang clad
in stained wood boards and supported by black steel posts. The house is clad in dark brick, and a
black steel balcony wraps around the second story. The incorporation of large windows allows
natural light to permeate the interior, enhancing the livability and comfort of the spaces while
fostering a strong connection with the surrounding landscape.101
The Southwest Electric Power Company Division Office Building (1968), located at 300 North
College Avenue is a three-story, International-style office building. Another example of strong
Miesian influence within Segraves’s portfolio, the design features a low, modern, flat-roofed,
box-like building form, with the upper two stories cantilevered over the first story of the College
Avenue façade, the design incorporating exposed steel framing and curtain-walled elevations.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, architects in Arkansas began to increasingly integrate exposed
concrete elements in a bid to move beyond the glass and steel vocabulary of the early postwar
International Style. The expansion of the University of Arkansas campus during the 1960s served
as a setting for these emerging postwar architectural trends. The David Mullins Library (1968,
Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson) represents a Modernist approach with its cubic form and use of
precast quartz aggregate concrete panels. It serves as a significant architectural boundary within
the university's academic quadrangle and houses important archives related to the state’s
architectural history. The original library was expanded with a Postmodern addition in 1993.102
Located at the opposite end of the campus mall from the Mullins Library, the University of
Arkansas Student Union (1969, Wittenberg, Delony & Davidson) is a Brutalist-style building
constructed of precast concrete forms that were fabricated on site. A two-story entrance wing
was completed in 1997.103 In the original section, west of the entrance wing, the architects used
precast concrete elements in a systematic way to articulate the upper story bays and overhang.
Design of the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse
Warren Segraves skillfully incorporated an array of Modern Movement influences in his design
for the Fayetteville federal building, including elements associated with the International Style,
as well as Brutalism, and New Formalism. Brutalism, which first surfaced in Europe during the
100 Beth Broome, “Marlon Blackwell renews the dignity of the aging Fulbright Building,” Architectural Record 197,

no. 6 (June 2009): 87.
101 National Register of Historic Places, Vernon Fitzhugh House, Fayetteville, Washington County, AR, National

Register #100001015, 7:4-5, 8:15.
102 Sutherland et al., 58-59.
103 Sutherland et al., 59.
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late 1940s, was a postwar expression of Modernism that drew on atypical approaches to massing
and explored the use of concrete. The style is characterized by the use of exposed concrete both
as an exterior and interior finish material, a sense of massiveness or heaviness, and highly
articulated elevations with deeply recessed window and door openings. One of the earliest and
most significant examples of the style is the Unite d’Habitation in Marseilles, France (19461952), designed by Le Corbusier. British architects Alison and Peter Smithson adopted the term
“New Brutalism” in 1953 to describe their work in central London. In an essay published in
1955, entitled “The New Brutalism,” architectural critic Reyner Banham attempted to formally
define Brutalism as an architectural movement for the first time.104
New Formalism, another postwar subset of the Modern Movement, entailed a re-examination of
classical forms. In the 1950s, architects such as Edward Durell Stone, Philip Johnson, Eero
Saarinen, and Minoru Yamasaki began to diverge from the austere functionality of rationalist
modernism typified by the spare, box-like forms of the International Style. Instead, Stone and his
colleagues focused on reinterpreting elements found within classical architecture. Stone was
influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s use of decorative motifs, which paralleled his own lifelong
interest in classical art and architecture.105
New Formalism was popular from the late-1950s through the early-1970s, particularly in designs
for banks and public institutions. The style embodied a return to the use of classical symmetry,
columns and arches. Buildings are often set on a raised platform or plinth, and rooflines are often
defined by heavy, flat, projecting slabs, supported by thin, sometimes tapered columns, creating
a temple-like building form seen frequently in New Formalist designs. Exterior surfaces are
typically composed of brick, marble, concrete, or cast stone.106
Segraves’s references to Brutalist and New Formalist building forms and motifs in his 1970-71
design for the Fayetteville federal building marks a transition in his career from the austere,
Miesian approach expressed in earlier commissions. The design features the use of heavy
concrete elements and exposed structural components that characterized many Brutalist buildings
of this period. This is conveyed through the federal building’s thick, concrete clad roof overhang
and exposed concrete waffle-slab floor structure, visible in the coffered concrete soffit of the
overhang. This robust articulation of the roofline overhang in concrete is a trait that can be seen
in other prominent Brutalist buildings of the late 1960s and early 1970s, such as the Boston City
Hall (1968, Kallmann, McKinnell & Knowles; Campbell, Aldrich & Nulty) and the U.S. Post
Office and Courthouse in Rome, Georgia (1974, Cooper Cary & Associates). Other examples
include Schmitz Hall at the University of Washington in Seattle (1970, Waldron & Pomeroy),

104 Virginia McLeod and Clare Churly, eds., Atlas of Brutalist Architecture (London: Phaidon Press, 2018), 6.
105 Aylesa Forsee, Giants in Glass, Steel and Stone: Men of Modern Architecture (Philadelphia: Macrae Smith

Company, 1966), 164-65.
106 Robert Twombly, Power and Style: A Critique of Twentieth-Century Architecture in the United States (New
York: Hill and Wang, 1995), 97.
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Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Denver Branch (1968, Muchow Associates), and the Vilas
Communication Hall at University of Wisconsin (1974, Flad & Associates).107
Like the U.S. Post Office and Courthouse in Rome, Georgia, the federal building in Fayetteville
features areas of brick cladding, in addition to concrete elements. Segraves skillfully used brick
to clad the massive, windowless enclosures that extend from the building’s side elevations,
communicating a sculptural quality and sense of monumentality that are characteristic of
Brutalism. A similar approach is seen in the large masonry enclosures, or wings, of the Vilas
Communication Hall.
Segraves augmented the use of heavy concrete elements and articulation of structure, typical of
Brutalism, with subtle references to New Formalism. The building’s roof overhang, supported by
thin concrete columns, evokes the temple-like form characteristic of New Formalist architecture.
This trait appears in other federal buildings designed for GSA during this period, such as the
Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida (1972,
Stetson & Spina). Like this example, the north and south elevations of the Fayetteville federal
building also exhibit the formal symmetry inherent to New Formalism and expressed in many
examples of the style during this period.
To a degree not seen in the above examples, Segraves offset these visual qualities with large
areas of curtain walled glazing, reflecting the strong International-Style influence that continued
to manifest late in his career. The curtain walls, along with the thin, light quality of the columns,
add a nice sense of balance to the design that distinguishes it from other Brutalist buildings of the
period. Rather than drawing on the use of arched forms, materials such as marble, or decorative
elements such as patterned metal or masonry screens (popularized by the work of Edward Durell
Stone) New Formalism is expressed through building form and symmetry, incorporating
classical design conventions appropriate to civic architecture. Through his design for the federal
building, Segraves, more than any other local architect at that time in Fayetteville, successfully
merged the artistic qualities of 1970s Brutalism and New Formalism with the clean, functional
aesthetic of the classic International Style, resulting in a building that stands as a landmark to
postwar Modernism in Fayetteville.
The federal building established a trademark style that Segraves applied in the design of later
office buildings in Fayetteville. In 1976, Segraves designed an eight-story office tower at 112
West Center Street for the First Federal Savings and Loan Association (later known as the E. J.
Ball Plaza Building). Similarities include the building’s curtain-walled bays and brick-clad
elevator/stairwell enclosures that extend above the roofline. Like the federal building, the
building at 112 West Center Street utilizes brick cladding and precast concrete elements, which
define the building’s base and capital within the tripartite composition. In addition, brick clad
columns divide the bays of the north, east, and west elevations. In 1977, Segraves prepared a
design for the building at 2 East Center Street in Fayetteville to serve as the University of
Arkansas Continuing Education Center (completed in 1981). Like his earlier design for the
107 McLeod and Churly, 38, 64-65.

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federal building, it represents a skillful merger of Brutalism and New Formalism with Miesian,
International-style curtain wall glazing.

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______________________________________________________________________________
9. Major Bibliographical References
Bibliography
“Architects Unveil Facelift Plan For Downtown Fayetteville.” Northwest Arkansas Times,
November 18, 1972, 1-2.
“Bids Accepted for Federal Building Here.” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 10, 1971, 2.
“Board Refuses To Take Stand On Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 22, 1974, 1-2.
Broome, Beth. “Marlon Blackwell renews the dignity of the aging Fulbright Building.”
Architectural Record 197, No. 6 (June 2009): 86-91.
“By Regional Planning Commission - $3.9 Million Water-Sewer Plan Okayed.” Northwest
Arkansas Times, May 28, 1971,1-2.
“City’s Landscape Changes During ’73.” Northwest Arkansas Times, January 22, 1974, 17.
“Civitans Hear Talk on Urban Renewal.” Northwest Arkansas Times, September 1, 1965, 7.
Craig, Lois, et al. The Federal Presence: Architecture, Politics, and Symbols in United States
Government Building. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1978.
Cromwell and WER Architects. Hammerschmidt Federal Building/Courthouse Building
Preservation Plan. Prepared for the General Services Administration, June 30, 2023.
Dalecki, Kenneth B. “Funds Asked for Federal Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, January
29, 1971, 1.
“Dedication of New Federal Building Held.” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 8, 1974, 1.
“Display Advertisement.” Northwest Arkansas Times, February 26, 1978, 25.
“Downtown Site for Federal Building Sought by City Officials, Planners.” Northwest Arkansas
Times, November 5, 1969, 1-2.
“Downtown Sites Under Study for Federal Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 21,
1969, 2.
“Federal Building Approved, But…” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 10, 1968, 1.
“Federal Building Contract Set.” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 9, 1972, 1.
“Federal Building Site Purchase Under Way.” Northwest Arkansas Times, July 2, 1970, 1.
“Federal Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, August 14, 1970, 4.

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“Federal Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, November 15, 1969, 4.
“Federal Courtroom Dedication Set.” Northwest Arkansas Times, April 25, 1975, 5.
“Formal Ceremonies Will Mark Property Exchange.” Northwest Arkansas Times, September 29,
1971, 1.
Forsee, Aylesa. Giants in Glass, Steel and Stone: Men of Modern Architecture. Philadelphia:
Macrae Smith Company, 1966.
“Funds Asked for Area.” Northwest Arkansas Times, February 3, 1975, 1.
“Funds for Federal Building Planning are Anticipated.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 20,
1970, 1.
Gane, John F., and George S. Koyl, eds. American Architects Directory, 3rd ed. New York: AIA,
1970.
Gilbert, Allan, Jr. “A Partnership of Great Promise.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 7, 1965,
12.
Gilbert, Allan, Jr. “What About the Square.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 7, 1965, 12.
“GSA Requested to Find New Site for Federal Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, November
11, 1969, 2.
Hitchcock, Henry-Russell, and Philip Johnson. Modern Architecture: International Exhibition.
3rd edition. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1995.
“Housing Authority Approves Plan For Square’s Face-Lift.” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 4,
1973, 1-2.
Hunter, L. L. “GSA’s Design and Construction Program: A Half-Billion Dollars Worth of
Buildings.” AIA Journal 30, No. 3 (September 1958): 46-49.
“Ideas and Proposals.” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 23, 1967, 4.
“Joint U-A Auditorium Urged.” Northwest Arkansas Times, April 7, 1966, 3.
McLeod, Virginia, and Clare Churly, eds. Atlas of Brutalist Architecture. London: Phaidon
Press, 2018.
Khan, Hasan-Uddin. International Style: Modernist Architecture From 1925 to 1965. Los
Angeles: Taschen, 2009.
Koyl, George S., ed. American Architects Directory, 2nd ed. New York: AIA, 1962.
“Need for New Federal Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 17, 1966, 5.

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National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

“New Bids on Federal Building Set After Offerings Rejected.” Northwest Arkansas Times,
March 10, 1972, 1.
“New Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, January 22, 1971,13, 16.
“New Fayetteville Federal Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, October 4, 1971, 1.
“New Federal Building Opens.” Northwest Arkansas Times, October 10, 1974, 1.
“New Federal Building Rising.” Northwest Arkansas Times, August 24, 1972, 1.
“Old Post Office restoration brings vitality to Fayetteville.” Baxter Bulletin [Mountain Home,
Arkansas], September 27, 1979, 19, 22.
“Plans for Federal Building to be Unveiled.” Northwest Arkansas Times, October 1, 1971, 1.
“Postal Service To Close Old Station On The Square.” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 23,
1972, 1.
“Resolutions Thank Arkansas Senators.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 30, 1970, 2.
Robinson, Judith H., and Stephanie S. Foell. Growth, Efficiency, and Modernism: GSA Buildings
of the 1950s, 60s, and ‘70s. Washington: General Services Administration, 2005.
“Save The Post Office Group Schedules Meet.” Northwest Arkansas Times, May 21, 1974, 5.
“Segraves to Design New Federal Building.” Northwest Arkansas Times, September 1, 1970, 1.
“Site Preparation.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 16, 1972, 1.
Sutherland, Cyrus A., et al. Buildings of Arkansas. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia
Press, 2018.
“The Post Office: Everyone Wants To Save It, But How?” Northwest Arkansas Times, June 16,
1974, 1-2.
“The Square.” Northwest Arkansas Times, March 17, 1974, 4.
“To Discuss UR Amendment – Meeting On Post Office Set.” Northwest Arkansas Times, June
20, 1974,1-2.
Twombly, Robert. Power and Style: A Critique of Twentieth-Century Architecture in the United
States. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995.

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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

___________________________________________________________________________
Previous documentation on file (NPS):
____ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested
____ previously listed in the National Register
____ previously determined eligible by the National Register
____ designated a National Historic Landmark
____ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey #____________
____ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # __________
____ recorded by Historic American Landscape Survey # ___________
Primary location of additional data:
____ State Historic Preservation Office
____ Other State agency
____ Federal agency
____ Local government
____ University
____ Other
Name of repository: _____________________________________
Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): ________________
______________________________________________________________________________
10. Geographical Data
Acreage of Property 2.2 acres
Use either the UTM system or latitude/longitude coordinates
Latitude/Longitude Coordinates (decimal degrees)
Datum if other than WGS84:__________
(enter coordinates to 6 decimal places)
1. Latitude: 36.061808
Longitude: 94.159013
2. Latitude: 36.060921

Longitude: 94.159034

3. Latitude: 36.060899

Longitude: 94.158171

4. Latitude: 36.061114

Longitude: 94.158080

5. Latitude: 36.061790

Longitude: 94.158026

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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Or
UTM References
Datum (indicated on USGS map):
NAD 1927

or

NAD 1983

1. Zone:

Easting:

Northing:

2. Zone:

Easting:

Northing:

3. Zone:

Easting:

Northing:

4. Zone:

Easting :

Northing:

Verbal Boundary Description
The 2.2-acre property is bounded on the north by East Mountain Street, on the south by East
Rock Street, on the east by South College Avenue, and on the west by an un-named alley.
Boundary Justification
These boundaries define the original site, purchased by the U.S. government in 1971, on
which GSA developed the Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in 1972-74.

______________________________________________________________________________
11. Form Prepared By
name/title: John Gentry, Senior Architectural Historian
organization: _EHT Traceries, Inc.
street & number: 440 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
city or town: Washington state: DC zip code: 20001
[email protected]
telephone:_(202) 393-1199
date:_December 2024
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United States Department of the Interior
National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

___________________________________________________________________________
Additional Documentation

Figure 1. Locator map with subject property annotated. Scale 1:24,000 (USGS/ESRI)

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National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 2. Locator map with subject property annotated. Scale 1:10,000 (USGS/ESRI)

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National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 3. Aerial image with subject property annotated. Scale 1:1,000 (USGS/ESRI)

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NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 4. Rendering of the building by architect Warren D. Segraves (Northwest Arkansas
Times, October 4, 1971)

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OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 5. Photograph of the site prior to construction (Northwest Arkansas Times, July 2,
1970)

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Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 6. Site preparation (Northwest Arkansas Times, June 16, 1972)

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Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 7. Site clearance nearing completion, June 1972 (GSA)

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Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 8. Foundation work, December 1972 (GSA)

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Washington County, AR

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County and State

Figure 9. First story under construction, January 1973 (GSA)

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Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 10. Construction progress, showing east and south elevations, September 1973 (GSA)

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Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 11. Exterior finishing work, showing north and west elevations, November 1973
(GSA)

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Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 12. Construction progress, south and east elevations, February 1974 (GSA)

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National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
NPS Form 10900

OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 13. Construction progress, north and west elevations, March 1974 (GSA)

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Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 14. Construction progress, east and south elevations, March 1974 (GSA)

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OMB No. 10240018

Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Figure 15. Final finishing work, east and north elevations, June 1974 (GSA)

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Washington County, AR

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County and State

Figure 16. Cover of dedication brochure, November 8, 1974 (GSA)

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Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse

Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Photographs
Photo Log
Name of Property: Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse
City or Vicinity: Fayetteville
County: Washington

State: Arkansas

Photographer: Kim Daileader and John Gentry, EHT Traceries, Inc. (supplemental photos by
Carol Highsmith)
Date Photographed: November 7, 2024 (Highsmith photos taken October 26, 2022)
Description of Photograph(s) and number, include description of view indicating direction of
camera:
Photo 1 of 26. North elevation, looking south (Highsmith, 2022).
Photo 2 of 26. North and west elevations, looking southeast (Highsmith, 2022).
Photo 3 of 26. West elevation, looking east (Highsmith, 2022).
Photo 4 of 26. South and west elevations, looking northeast.
Photo 5 of 26. South elevation, looking north.
Photo 6 of 26. South and east elevations, looking northwest.
Photo 7 of 26. East elevation, looking west (Highsmith, 2022).
Photo 8 of 26. North and east elevations, looking southwest.
Photo 9 of 26. North plaza, looking south (Highsmith, 2022).
Photo 10 of 26. Main entrance, north elevation, looking south.
Photo 11 of 26. Dedication plaque, north elevation, looking south.
Photo 12 of 26. North lawn, looking east.
Photo 13 of 26. Secondary entrance and walkway, north elevation, looking south.
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National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
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Washington County, AR

Name of Property

County and State

Photo 14 of 26. Entrance to south plaza, looking west.
Photo 15 of 26. South plaza, looking north.
Photo 16 of 26. South lawn, looking west.
Photo 17 of 26. First floor, main lobby, north entrance vestibule, looking north.
Photo 18 of 26. First floor, main lobby, looking south.
Photo 19 of 26. First floor, main lobby, elevators, looking northeast.
Photo 20 of 26. First floor, main lobby, looking east.
Photo 21 of 26. Fifth floor, court lobby, looking south.
Photo 22 of 26. Fifth floor, court lobby, looking west.
Photo 23 of 26. Fifth floor, U.S. District Courtroom, looking west.
Photo 24 of 26. Fifth floor, U.S. District Courtroom, looking east.
Photo 25 of 26. Fourth floor, U.S. Bankruptcy Courtroom, looking north.
Photo 26 of 26. Second floor, typical corridor.

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County and State

Photo 1 of 26.

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Photo 2 of 26.

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County and State

Photo 3 of 26.

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Photo 4 of 26.

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Photo 5 of 26.

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Photo 6 of 26.

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Photo 7 of 26.

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Photo 8 of 26.

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Photo 9 of 26.

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Photo 10 of 26.

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Photo 11 of 26.

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Photo 12 of 26.

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Photo 13 of 26.

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Photo 14 of 26.

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Photo 15 of 26.

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Photo 16 of 26.

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Photo 17 of 26.

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Photo 18 of 26.

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Photo 19 of 26.

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Photo 20 of 26.

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Photo 21 of 26.

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Photo 22 of 26.

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Photo 23 of 26.

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Photo 24 of 26.

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Photo 25 of 26.

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Photo 26 of 26.

Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic
Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response
to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460
et seq.).
Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 100 hours per response including
time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding
this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Office of Planning and Performance Management. U.S. Dept. of the Interior,
1849 C. Street, NW, Washington, DC.

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