Architect Tommy Jameson’s legacy.
By Jim von Tungeln
Urbanism concerns how inhabitants of urban areas interact with the built environment. The built environment, however, does not always prove to be a stable entity, particularly in the historical context. Ask Little Rock architect Tommy Jameson. He knows.
Jameson enjoys a justified reputation as a designer with an exhaustive list of achievements. These include work on all four of the museums owned and operated by the state’s Division of Arkansas Heritage. His work has generated awards including the Parker Westbrook Lifetime Achievement Award from Preserve Arkansas.
He has also committed his time to preservation through volunteering with Quapaw Quarter (receiving their Jimmy Strawn Award in 1996), Little Rock Historic District Commission, Capitol Zoning District Commission, Arkansas Chapter of the AIA (receiving the Dick Savage Memorial Award in 1992) and Preserve Arkansas, serving as president in 1993.
Jameson’s journey took him from a childhood in Little Rock, to a senior year of high school in Malvern, and to the University of Arkansas Fay Jones School of Architecture. It then led to the pinnacle of respect in his profession. Along the way, he and his wife, Christy, have enjoyed a marriage of 40 years, a union that produced two children, Kauley and Aly Clare.
Jameson credits his interest in historic work to two factors. One involved legendary architecture instructor Cyrus “Cy” Sutherland of the University of Arkansas, who taught an elective course on preservation in 1976. The other was to join the firm of Witsell and Evans. Charles Witsell was one of the founders of Preserve Arkansas and a local icon in historic preservation.
Jameson remembers Witsell asking him about specializing in preservation. He responded, “Gosh, Charles, I don’t know, that’s a big commitment, that’s a big step, I’m not sure.”
A decision followed, and the rest, as they say, is history. As Jameson’s reputation grew, he established his own firm. His architectural journey took him from restoration of the state’s Senate Chamber in its capitol building to an 1846 log plantation house in Drew County, Arkansas.
Then there was the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.
The entrance to Ninth Street from Broadway once led to the vibrant African American commercial corridor of Little Rock. Time proved unkind over the years, and the 1980s found the area almost deserted. Only skeletal fragments of the commercial district survived.
The original Mosaic Templars Building is mirrored by the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, designed in honor of the original by Tommy Jameson.
Courtesy of JAMESON Architects/ Jim von Tungeln
One remaining building stood at the southwest corner of the subject intersection. An early “mixed-use” structure, the ground floor of the building originally housed retail as part of the commercial strip. Its top floor housed an auditorium where African American entertainers of such stature as Count Basie had performed. The middle floors contained the offices of the National Headquarters of the Mosaic Templars of America.
From the Encyclopedia of Arkansas: “The Mosaic Templars of America (MTA), an African American fraternal organization offering mutual aid to the black community, was founded in Little Rock in 1882 and incorporated in 1883 by two former slaves, John Edward Bush and Chester W. Keatts. Taking its name from the biblical character of Moses, the organization offered illness, death, and burial insurance to African Americans at a time when white insurers refused to treat black customers equally.”
In 1911, the MTA established its national headquarters, the National Grand Temple, at the corner of West Ninth and Broadway streets. Frank M. Blaisdell was the chief designer for the four-story building which was dedicated at its completion on May 18, 1913, by Booker T. Washington.
By the 1930s, the Great Depression had contributed to the demise of the MTA. The Jim Crow laws of the South made it hard for African American businesses to survive. The last inter-urban freeway allowed in an American city, Interstate 630, tore through, and completed the destruction of the Ninth Street business district. The Mosaic Templars building and its annex immediately to the south stood in sad shape.
Then there was the Mosaic Templars Preservation Society.
This organization of volunteers worked to preserve the original structure. Its members persuaded the Arkansas Legislature to support the preservation of the building. Act 1176 of 2001 established the Mosaic Templars of America Center for African American Culture and Business Enterprise. The building would become a museum housed under the Arkansas Department of Arkansas Heritage (now the Division of Arkansas Heritage). This settled a major decision in preserving the past, but what next?
Jameson credits the beginning of his association with the project to the fact that an upholstery mechanic who cared for a treasured Jeep CJ-5’s soft top operated in the back of the aging Mosaic Templars building.
This eventually led to design and construction drawings for rehabilitation and reuse. The firm Carson and Associates would undertake the construction. They were six weeks into construction before the disaster.
On a chilly March evening, transients broke into the building to seek shelter. They built a fire on a piece of sheet metal, lost control of it and fled as the fire spread. The city awoke the next morning to the jagged remains of one of its most historic buildings.
In Jameson’s recollection, after a brief period of mourning, those in charge tasked him with the design of a replica of the original building with the mission of housing a modern museum. With that, he went to work.
As he recounted the times, he listed areas in which history, function, funding, and technology intertwined.
The original building was a mixed-use structure with ground-floor retail, middle-floor offices, and a fourth-floor auditorium. The reconstructed building would have those functions with exhibit spaces replacing the retail.
The question looms in historic preservation as to what building codes will prevail. Jameson cited what local architects and builders call “The Roy Beard” test, named after a legendary Little Rock code enforcer. Beard often posited that when the cost of rehabilitation exceeded 50% of the value of the building, new codes must come into effect.
Those who have worked on restoring old homes know the trials of the “shrinking two-by-fours.” For this job, modern technology in the form of a then-new software program called “Revit” proved a godsend. It allowed the architects to translate plans into visual information concerning such building items as oversized bricks that were necessary to replicate the historic proportions and detailing.
Keeping the ground floor in historic harmony was a challenge. Retail businesses need windows. Museums need wall space. One result was an opaque black granite covering that suggested windows from the outside but provided uninterrupted wall space on the inside.
Although the entire top floor contained the auditorium, fire safety regulations mandated a reduced size and fewer occupants. This worked to some advantage by allowing room for restrooms, stairs and support space.
Because of its historic context and public ownership, the rare cost-plus approach to the construction contract allowed flexibility and protection from so-called “black swans,” or totally unforeseen problems that can plague such projects.
Adding the former adjacent annex building to the project became a reality with subsequent grant cycles.
With such factors at work, the project reached completion, an architectural phoenix rising from the ashes of history. It is open now and free to the public.
Of his recent private projects undertaken within the framework of historic preservation, Jameson cites Hill Station, a restaurant at Kavanaugh and Beechwood.
Developed by Doug Martin and Daniel Bryant, the site originally housed a fire station. Next, a “filling station” occupied it from until 1980, then a garage until 2016. The unique challenge was to utilize the existing building while adding on to the overlay district’s requirement to build to the street and to create a “restaurant within a park.”
The transition from historic fabric to new warranted major decisions. According to Jameson, “The project included relocating an adjacent early 1900s house to Van Buren Street (to make room for parking) where it was rehabilitated and remains listed as a contributing structure in Hillcrest.”
Jameson is now semi-retired. He cites several up-and-coming architects to note, mentioning an 11-year member of JAMESON Architects — Amoz Eckerson.
It would seem, then, that accommodating our heritage is possible within the flow of urbanism. It just takes talent, diligence and the willingness to make complex and difficult decisions.
Jim von Tungeln is an urban planner and staff planning consultant with the Arkansas Municipal League.