Architects of Little Rock: 1833-1950

APPENDIX 2

The early history of the architectural profession in Arkansas was typical of the state of the profession throughout the United States in the nineteenth century . A look at early architects in Arkansas reveals that practitioners who called themselves architects also did many other things. For example, consider these ads from early Little Rock business directories: 1880: Pettefer Brothers, Architects and Builders (as builders, the firm sometimes bid on other architects’ work, as with the Pulaski County Courthouse) 1881: D. W. Gaskill and Son, Architects and Builders 1886: Pettefer Brothers, Architects, Builders, and Brick Manufacturers 1886: Rickon and Harris, Civil and Mining Engineers and Architects 1886: B. J. Bartlett, Architect and Superintendent of Buildings (“Neat and Tasty Architecture”) This list suggests that the practice of architecture was merely one of several skills available to these multitaskers . In fact, anyone who wanted to call himself an architect could do so. Some who did were in various building trades; others may have trained by working in the offices of architects already in practice . And some were formally trained architects from one or another of the few schools of architecture in existence then. An early provider of some formal training for European architects was in England, beginning in 1614, in the Office of the Surveyor of the King’s Works. For the next two hundred years, it was an important center for training architects. Another early development in this training was the École des Beaux Arts, or Fine Arts School, established in Paris in 1648. This movement aimed to train architects with specialized knowledge gained through very structured study. The École des Beaux Arts attracted some of the finest early American architects to Paris early in their careers; as they returned to the United States, they established practices that helped shape early American architecture. These architects included Richard Morris Hunt, Henry Hobson Richardson, Charles F. McKim, and Louis Sullivan. This group and successors from their firms would be instrumental in developing the first schools of architecture in the United States: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1868), Cornell University (1871), and the University of Illinois (1873). As Joan Draper has pointed out in The Architect: Chapters in the History of the Profession, by 1898 there were nine professional schools of architecture in the United States, with a total enrollment of 384 students . “Yet,” she adds, “the 1900 census reported 10,581 persons calling themselves architects.” But, as she noted, “anyone could hang out a shingle” because there were no regulations or state licensing laws, although doctors, lawyers, and many other professionals were required to be licensed. However, by the late nineteenth century it was apparent that the requirement of some formal education and the adoption of standards of practice were needed, if only because of changing technology toward the end of the century. It became essential that architects designing new buildings be trained and qualified to meet the health requirements of sanitary sewage systems APPENDIX 2 ◆ 125 APPENDIX 2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE OF ARCHITECTURE and devise safety methods to protect lives from fire and other disasters, as well as have a good grasp of structural engineering to deal with the spans, heights, and complexities of the evolving building types. The need to regulate the health and safety features of a building led to the first law enacted to license the practice of architecture. This was passed in Illinois in 1897. In 1900, as Draper notes, the American Institute of Architects adopted the requirement that all candidates for membership be graduates of an approved school and, in addition, that candidates pass a special institute examination. In 1921, thirteen architects in Little Rock formed the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and twenty years later, in 1941, the state of Arkansas created the Arkansas State Board of Architects to license architects to practice. George H. Wittenberg was made president of this board and held Arkansas license #1. As Wittenberg observed at the time, “The new law for licensing architects will take that section of the building trade out of the horse and buggy stage.” Still, the profession was faced with many challenges that came with the postwar world. A particularly important one was the need to address the problem of the licensing requirements of the individual states. The high volume of work in the nation that had been postponed during the war was an all but overwhelming challenge for the architectural profession. Many architectural firms that had previously been...