• Menu
  • Menu
Medical Arts Building

Medical Arts Building

City/Town:
Location Class:
Built: 1930 | Abandoned: 1991
Historic Designation: National Register of Historic Places
Status: AbandonedEndangered
Photojournalist: Michael Schwarz

In 1930, in downtown Hot Springs, two blocks from the Majestic Hotel, the Medical Arts Building became the tallest building west of Mississippi from the day it finished construction until 1960. This building, credited as being one of the most important Art Deco structures in Arkansas history, is now considered one of the most endangered buildings in the state by the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas. A certified building in the National Register of Historic Places, the United States branch of government dealing with historical buildings, the Medical Arts Building has been abandoned since 1991 after four years of having no power or electricity to the middle thirteen floors.

medical-arts-hisThe Medical Arts Building was constructed by general contractor G. C. Gordon Walker with work beginning on December 1, 1929. Designed by Almand & Stuck, which also designed Little Rock Central High School, the building has a certain indescribable beauty and elegance that has caused a recent public uproar to restore or otherwise renovate it. According to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas, “Bas-relief limestone carvings on the frieze and on the facing of the main entrance are among the building’s notable features, along with the bronze grille work above the doors.” This unique look, which provided the exterior for the Daily Planet building in the original Superman television series, earned the building its reputation as, from Sentinel-Record, “One of the most imposing buildings in Arkansas and a valuable addition to… Hot Springs.”

The current condition of the structure mirrors that of the Majestic before its ultimate destruction. As a community, there has been much protest and concern raised that the building’s fate will be the same as its abandoned cousin. The building’s latest owner, Marshall Coffman of Coffman Investment Inc. of Little Rock, reassured the Sentinel-Record in 2012 that the building “absolutely” will not be torn down. The Medical Arts Building stands out as one of the most important buildings in Arkansas history and we here at Abandoned Arkansas are happy to see the amount of attention and support put into the notion of restoring it. Other major, historic buildings that are vacant in downtown Hot Springs include the former Majestic Hotel and former DeSoto Hotel.

We bumped into Scott McClard, a local entrepreneur to Hot Springs and amature film maker, while exploring the Medical Arts Building; he made a video that keeps in the spirit of Abandoned Arkansas and really helps to create a live, detailed recreation of the Medical Arts Building inside and out. Please show your support for the restoration of Historic Downtown Hot Springs by taking a look at the video and pictures below; hopefully, with enough attention, we’ll be able to capture how important these buildings are to the people of Arkansas.

Article written by Wells Thompson – AAR staff

Scott McClard’s video on the Medical Arts Interior.


Gallery Below




Bibliography
5 2 votes
Article Rating

If you wish to support our current and future work, please consider making a donation or purchasing one of our many books. Any and all donations are appreciated.

Donate to our cause Check out our books!

Michael Schwarz

Leave a Reply to KatherineCancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

37 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
trackback
3 years ago

[…] citations I found were some flavor of the sort of thing listed on a site called “Abandoned Arkansas,” which repeats the same vague bit given by the […]

Teresa Fryar
Teresa Fryar
3 years ago

How does something so profitable and beautiful become rubble? Where did we miss the opportunity to save it. We have the ARmy Navy HOspital at risk of being treated the same way…WAKE UP HOT SPRINGS …we need help. Many things in the video I see could be salvaged …that would be a great start for cleaning it up. So so sad. Scares me for the other old bldgs that owners are allowing to go to waste. What happened to community pride. It is too late when tears fall …Such waste

Teresa Fryar
Teresa Fryar
3 years ago

How does something so profitable and beautiful become rubble? Where did we miss the opportunity to save it. We have the ARmy Navy HOspital at risk of being treated the same way…WAKE UP HOT SPRINGS …we need help. Many things in the video I see could be salvaged …that would be a great start for cleaning it up. So so sad. Scares me for the other old bldgs that owners are allowing to go to waste. What happened to community pride. It is too late when tears fall …Such waste.

Chuck H
Chuck H
5 years ago

If the city can get it and get federal money to convert it to housing, then it stands a chance of being used again. Otherwise there is no hope for it. Just a recent archeological wonder.

Boulder Marketing
6 years ago

Great post. Thanks for sharing!

Cindy Kelly
Cindy Kelly
6 years ago

I was told way back when Batman first came out that that building was used as the Gotham police quarters does anyone have any clue where I can get background on that

Josh Barrett
Josh Barrett
6 years ago
Josh Barrett
Josh Barrett
6 years ago

This building should be fixed. Who wants to work with me? My Experience:
https://goo.gl/EhULxH
https://goo.gl/F1vz6U

Take a look at the numbers. It only takes a willingness to learn. Tax Credits make it all possible. e-mail josh@vestatulsa.com if you care about this building.

Jessie
Jessie
6 years ago

Who did you contact to get in to do this? I would love to go in and get some shots for a College Project.

Anonymous
Anonymous
6 years ago

Well appreciated post admin thanks for sharing for this,

kamarajs
6 years ago

nice post.

Shareware
7 years ago

Well appreciated post admin thanks for sharing for this,

Post Malone
7 years ago

Totally DUG this post! I have a blog myself, if you are open, I might curate this post to my audience. Obviously give a link back.

Cheska
7 years ago

Way to go on this post man. Really killer stuff. I'll be back to read your other posts.

chasebillow1
7 years ago

Thanks for taking the time to do this and share!Great post.Thanks for increasing our knowledge about this topic.

Zofran

paradiso
7 years ago

I hope that since the Thompson and 1st Federal Buildings are being refurbished, maybe there's hope for this one (and many others) too. Neat video and haunting music.

Cleaning pool
7 years ago

Great post.Thanks for increasing our knowledge about this topic https://goo.gl/ZJ0b4N

alhaanasif
alhaanasif
7 years ago

WOW. This is amazing (and sad). Thanks for sharing.It would be so wonderful to see that building restored <a href= " http://www.garsencoolpaints.com/apartments-interi
" Apartments Painting Contractors in Chennai 

Copyright © 2009- - Abandoned Atlas Foundation - board@AbandonedAtlas.com | Designed By Prairie Nation Creative, LLC - Disclaimer

Total
0
Share
37
0
Have history here? Would love hear your stories or your thoughts.x
()
x