Arkansas' governor and first family live here at 1800 Center Street, in the official residence known as the Arkansas Governor's Mansion. This house anchors the Governor's Mansion Historic District and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Until 1950, Arkansas did not have an official governor’s residence, and this place answers that gap.
In 1947 the Arkansas General Assembly passed Act 257, establishing a Governor's Mansion Commission and appropriating $100,000.00 to begin the project. The site was once the Arkansas School for the Blind before it moved to new quarters near Pulaski Heights, and construction began in December 1947. Architects Frank J. Ginocchio, Jr. and Edwin B. Cromwell designed the Georgian Revival, colonial-type mansion, its main exterior material being brick.
Little Rock insurance and television executive Clyde E. Lowry led the effort to raise funds to build it, and builders even incorporated 300,000 bricks from the original School for the Blind into the new façade. Notable former residents include Bill Clinton and Mike Huckabee. Picture 300,000 salvaged bricks from that old school rebuilt into this Georgian Revival façade by Ginocchio and Cromwell.