Quarter opens its doors to tour
Julie Cabe has her fingers crossed. “I’m praying for good weather,” she says. And who can blame her?
Cabe, the host for today’s tour of Quapaw Quarter United Methodist Church — part of the church’s annual Christmas in the Quarter Tour of Homes — didn’t get to do her job last year. The snow and ice storm of Dec. 4, 2013, forced cancellation of last year’s tour.
This year’s event, a fundraiser for the church, will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. today in Little Rock’s historic Quapaw Quarter. The tour includes the church, at 1601 S. Louisiana St.; the Foster Robinson House, 2122 Broadway; The Empress Little Rock Bed and Breakfast (the Hornibrook Mansion), 2120 S. Louisiana St.; the Villa Marre, 1321 S. Scott St.; and the Baker Rental Cottage, 2101 S. Louisiana St. Tickets are $25 at the church, which also will
offer refreshments.
“The tour provides a way for people to step back in time and appreciate these beautiful, historic homes,” Cabe says. “We also invite people to step inside our church, to take a deep breath and a spiritual break.”
Cabe, who is retired, serves on the church’s finance and lay leadership committees. But the role she clearly relishes is that of the church’s unofficial historian.
“Several years ago, I decided we needed to consolidate all the information we had,” she says. “The church is in such a historic location for the city and since I’m interested in history, I decided I would do that and make it my personal contribution to the church.”
There were certain risks, she admits.
“There were a lot of rabbit trails … tangents that were fascinating. I soon realized I needed to rein myself in and stay focused. I’ve gathered a lot of information on the church, the original congregation and the property.”
Cabe says construction of the church, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, began in 1921. The congregation moved into the basement, what is now the Fellowship Hall. The church’s sanctuary was completed in 1926.
“The Gothic Revival sanctuary is very beautiful; there are angels in the sanctuary, which is rare in Protestant churches,” she says. Cabe was able to find out who made the large stained-glass window on the church’s west side and the origins of a plaque honoring “our mothers” in the church. The cork floor in the sanctuary shows prints from the high heels women wore in the 1950s, she says.
Tour proceeds will go into the church’s general operations budget, to help keep the doors open and facilitate the continuation of its feeding ministries — a semimonthly food pantry, two Sunday meal programs and a monthly pet food ministry.
It takes several months to prepare for the event, though initial planning starts in January. “By July, we’re starting to have meetings and in the fall we begin aligning volunteers and tour hosts.
“It is not easy for a homeowner to participate in the tour and to let so many people come through their home,” Cabe says. “These folks are so gracious to let us do this.”
The Hornibrook Mansion became a bed and breakfast inn, The Empress, in 1993. The mansion, which took six years to build, was completed in 1888. “It combines many styles in its construction; each downstairs room has its own granite foundation,” Cabe says. “It has an irregular floor plan with octagonal, square and round rooms, for example.”
When visitors tour the Foster Robinson Home, they will be entertained by musicians courtesy of the Arkansas Federation of Music Clubs. The organization was founded by Elizabeth Foster in 1915. She was a charter member of the National Federation of Musical Clubs, which organized in 1898.
The house was also home for U.S. Sen. Joseph T. Robinson, who hosted President Franklin D. Roosevelt at a 1936 dinner party.
The Sweet Adelines “Rock Stars” will perform at the Villa Marre, the exterior of which was filmed for the opening sequence of the TV series Designing Women. Dating from 1881, the house combines Italianate and Second Empire architectural styles.
The Baker Rental Cottage was listed in the Little Rock city directory of 1895-96 as rental property. The structure is in the Princess Anne Cottage style. The architecture’s ornamentation is simpler than the Queen Anne style and has an asymmetrical floor plan and complex roof shapes.
Cabe admires the love and hard work people put into their homes in the Quapaw Quarter.
“This is such a warm neighborhood,” she says. “People have such a sense of community here; they have shown a lot of commitment to where they live.
“We hope people who take the tour will take something home with them — an appreciation of the Quarter and the work people have done to complete restorations.”