FOR SALE: Stunning Victorian Time Capsule in Incredible Historic District

Welcome back to beautiful downtown Little Rock, Arkansas in the Quapaw Quarter with Preservation Travels with Lane and Kevin at Our Restoration Nation. We're back in Little Rock today with another beautiful Queen Anne Victorian home for sale. Now, I'm going to remind you for our friends across the pond, when we say Queen Anne Victorian here in the United States, we're referring to the architectural type developed by Richard Norman Shaw. He practiced from about 1870 to 1900, and he created his very own architecture style by taking bits and bobs of different architectural styles from his home country of England and creating a new style that would be quixotic, engaging, and it is what we here in the U.S. call Queen Anne Victorian, and it is a recognized style of architecture. So you don't have to tell us that this isn't a Queen Anne home because it wasn't built during the reign of Queen Anne. We have a whole different set of rules here in the United States, just like our Victorian era doesn't stop dead at 1901. Anyway, we are at an exquisitely beautiful home. It's one of a set of twins sitting right here on Louisiana Street in downtown Little Rock in the Quapaw Quarter, our historic Victorian neighborhood right around the Governor's Mansion in downtown capital city of Little Rock, Arkansas. This is an absolute stunner. It has so many of its original architectural elements in it. It also has some elements that have been blended into it, but they've been done so sensitively that if you didn't know, you wouldn't know. So come inside and let's take a look at this gorgeous home that's been so sensitively rehabilitated. Well, here we are in our formal entryway, one of our favorite spots in these old Victorian stunners, a massive space to welcome you in when you come to visit your friends and family who live here. But let's imagine this is your space. What elements are you going to find in here that make this such a unique and spectacular home? Well, first you have this gorgeous entryway mantle piece done in what appears to be a beautiful oak. Now, this is just my guess, but these are your original hearth tiles. These are period tiles. These are Victorian era glazed tiles, but obviously the two don't match. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? More than likely, these were the earliest tile when the house was built, and then these were a slightly later addition, maybe to accommodate the lady of the house's new design aesthetic that she had going on. You have this absolutely stunning newel post. Now, you know that for me, a newel post makes or breaks a house, and this newel post with its gorgeous handrail and banister rising to the second floor makes a huge statement in this space. You have hardwood floors in the house, which is very unusual in a house of this period, which makes me suspect that these may be slightly later additions. A home of this era usually has pine floors and a slightly wider board application, and these are oak floors in a narrower board. So I have a feeling these were redone maybe in the 20s or 30s, could have had a lot of wear on those early pine floors, but they're beautifully aged and they blend with the pine surrounds gorgeously. You have a beautiful huge set of pocket doors leading into your main parlor. So let's go inside and take a look at that main parlor. Main parlor, again, an eternally favorite space of mine in any of these homes. Beautiful three-bay light window with its original wavy glass, gorgeous pine stained surrounds on your two sets of enormous pocket doors. But this is the showpiece of this front parlor. Now, I suspect that this is not the original mantle piece. The home itself is a Queen Anne, so probably 1880 to 1890. This is a later mantle, probably 1900 to 1910, and these are not original hearth tiles, but they are gorgeous. They blend seamlessly into the house, and I love the iconography on this mantle piece. This is the Green Man. We see him represented in many different forms in architecture and design. We see him in chairs and on the exteriors of buildings. He's a symbol of spring, of rejuvenation, of new growth, and fresh start. So what better symbol to have in the living room of your new home than the symbol for a fresh start? Secondary parlor, which has been set up as a comfortable family room. One of the things that we need to do in these historic homes is allow ourselves to live in a modern way, and this room does that beautifully. You see we have a gorgeous early mantle piece, again, not with original tiles, but with beautiful later replacements that blend seamlessly. One of the elements that we find throughout this house that I absolutely love is the period-appropriate stenciling that we have above the picture rail and on the ceiling. That is an application that absolutely would have been here 140 years ago. These are very much the colors that would have been used, and we see them in this room, in the front room, in many of the other rooms in the house, all done in period-appropriate colors and gorgeous design. Of course, you're going to look at this and think, man, that looks really bright. That may be a little bit garish, but you have to remember that we're accustomed to seeing stencils on the ceilings and walls that have aged over time, so they've lost the intensity of color. But this is how these pieces would have looked when they were freshly and newly applied when the house was new, and I love it. Well, here we are in this beautiful formal dining room. Again, hardwood floors underneath. I love these double doors that enter right into that back parlor. Such a comfortable and convenient space right off of your newly redesigned kitchen. And again, we have another beautiful mantelpiece, probably not original but completely appropriate to the period, with these period accent tiles and a period surround. This home is beautifully done. It's one that you can move into and enjoy the history and the architecture that's surrounding you without having to do hardly any work at all. I'm now going to take you in and show you the beautiful kitchen that's been very sensitively added onto this house and a back family room for comfortable reclining. Now let's take a look at all the beautiful spaces to be found upstairs. We hope you've enjoyed this journey back in time with us today at Preservation Travels with Lane and Kevin here at Our Restoration Nation. Look at this glorious house! How could you not want a house so beautifully and sensitively rehabilitated by this great couple? It can be yours. The listing information is in the description below. But a quick reminder, I am not a realtor. We are not real estate agents. We don't represent the house. We can't answer any of those questions for you. We're just here to show you some of our gorgeous historic architecture and the beautiful elements that can only be found in these historic treasures. Save the houses, save the history, here at Our Restoration Nation. See you next time!