‘Beautiful, old house’

Heber Springs home added to National Register of Historic Places

By Eliza Gano

LITTLE ROCK — When Priscilla and Richie Lee of Heber Springs moved back into the newly renovated Rector House at 630 West Quitman on March 1, it was a moment 30 years in the making.

“I felt like it was where I belonged,” Priscilla Lee said. “I hope to live the rest of my life in this beautiful, old house.”

Because the house has been part of the community for nearly a century, Priscilla Lee nominated it for The National Register of Historic Places.

“If we do not preserve the history of our area, and even our family’s heritage, our children’s grandchildren will lose it forever,” she said.

Only three other residences in Cleburne County are on the register, and all are in Heber Springs: the Frauenthal House at 210 N. Broadway, the Crosby House at 202 N. Broadway and the King House at 110 W. Spring St.

Lee first saw the house in the late 1970s when her son, Michael, would go to ball practice with Matthew Wilson, the son of the family who lived in the house at the time.

“It was elegant, and I was smitten,” she said.

Richie, a retired business owner, also had a past encounter with the house in 1949. He had played two years for the Chicago White Sox and came to play for the Heber Springs Merchants at the invitation of the Rector family, his wife said. He stayed his first night in Heber Springs at the house. The Merchants won the state championship in 1950.

Sam Rector, a prominent member of the community, built the house in 1916 in the Victorian style known as Queen Anne. Rector started Arkansas National Bank about the same time; today it is known as Heber Springs State Bank.

“He helped by showing us photos of the house that were taken when he was a small boy,” Lee said. “His memory of where the chimneys were located and colors of the home were important.”

Lee was in Tennessee when the house went up for sale. She was looking for a home at the time and remembered seeing the house online.

“I saw it and immediately thought, ‘Is that the old Captain’s House?’ I couldn’t believe it,” she said.

A call to her Realtor confirmed her assumption.

She purchased the home in March 2005 and began tearing out the commercial kitchen, a remnant of the structure’s past as The Captain’s House, a restaurant. The two-story, fourbedroom, three-bath house was a residence until 1988, when it became The Captain’s House for several years. It later became an insurance office.

Craftsman Tracy Irwin and his family moved into the house in September 2005 and beganhe was frustrated at the time.”

Irwin leveled the house since the back of the structure had dropped about five inches. He also bricked the old bathroom in period materials and installed slate floors in the kitchen.

“I have found that in renovating a structure that’s almost 100 years old, take whatever estimate you make regarding time and money and double it,” she said.

The same detailed scrutiny placed on renovation work was also used in selecting the home’s furnishings.

Lee, who works part-time as an education supervisor at the University of Central Arkansas, scoured estate sales and auctions in Cleburne County for local antique furniture to give the home a period feel.

Hunt-ing for antiques is a weekend passion she has been nurturing since the 1960s.

“The antiques in the house consist of pieces my mother, Betty Wyatt, left me, and almost every room has period furnishings,” Lee said. “One of the best pieces I found is a 9-foot buffet with beveled mirrors.”

The process of nominating the house to be listed on the register is “fairly time consuming,” Lee said. The register is the federal government’s official list of historic properties worthy of preservation. It is part of a national program to support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate and protect historic and archeological resources. Felts Rector, 92, was a primary source for establishing the house’s history. Lee also pored over many county and city records and articles at the Cleburne CountyHistory Society.

“It’s not something I would have been able to do if I was still employed full time,” she said. “It’s important to me and the community because the house is a visual reminder and integral representation of Heber Springs’ history.”

Recovering, restoring and displaying the past reflects Lee’s personality.

“People who know me aren’t surprised that I have taken on this project,” she said. “When I taught school at Rose Bud, Heber Springs and at [Arkansas State University], I always had a large display of antiques, old letters, photos and rocks in my room.”

One of the house’s quirks is its upstairs level, which had been closed off for several years.

“Some people claim there were once stairs in the house to the upper level, but we can’t find any sign of them,” Lee said. “The entire upper level has tongue and groove hardwoodfloor, walls and ceiling. The only access to it is to climb up on the roof and remove a glass panel in one of the dormers.” Her next project is to open up the second floor and to build stairs to it.

The wrap-around front porch, her favorite part of the house, draws many former students and friends.

“I practically live out there with my granddaughter, Chloe,” Lee said. “People will see us outside on the porch and just stop by. Many of them have been in the house when it was a public building. It looks very different now, and we are always happy to show others the renovations.” - egano@ arkansasonline.com

Three Rivers, Pages 115, 128 on 04/13/2008