Bob Blair, Innkeeper of The Empress of Little Rock Sharon Welch-Blair, Innkeeper of The Empress of Little Rock

Your Host and Hostess, Bob Blair and Sharon Welch-Blair

THE FORGOTTEN EXPERIENCE

Welcome to The Empress of Little Rock Bed and Breakfast, and the peace and magnificence of the 1880's. The Empress was born out of a passion for the Victorian Era; a love for order, personal integrity, enthusiastic optimism, cherished family traditions and memories of how life used to be. The Empress is our home, and therefore we hope any stay will feel as if you were visiting a Victorian family in the 1880's (but with the finest modern conveniences). And since it is our home, we've labored to treat each room as an extension of us with mementos and antiques that make you feel like you're not only experiencing the past, but a cherished guest of the "royal family". We take great pride in our attention to detail and our home's standing on the National Register of Historic Places and other awards. Thank you for visiting our website, and taking the time to get to explore our Little Rock, AR Inn. We hope our story will inspire you and that you will come and join us for a sample of "The Forgotten Experience." No introduction to the Empress would be complete without a short history on the Hornibrook Mansion and its Innkeepers.

THE DREAM

The Hornibrook Mansion was completed in 1888 after approximately six years of construction. The architects, Kasper, Kusner, & Max Orlopp, were reportedly family friends and also designed the spires and towers of the Pulaski County Court-house. It encompasses approximately 7200 sq. feet on the two main floors and had a wine cellar, laundry, food storage, and boiler room in the basement (according to the Arkansas Gazette). It originally cost $20,000 at a time when a normal dwelling would have run $2500-3500. The attic contained the infamous secret "tower room, "Mr. Hornibrook's revenge on local society. Using all Arkansas materials, each main room of the downstairs had its own granite foundation. Five or six native woods were used in the ornate wainscot and parquet floors, including: oak, cherry, walnut, mahogany, cypress, and yellow pine. The house exhibits gothic and Queen Anne influences and an irregular floor plan of different shapes, i.e., octagonal, circle, & squares, and multiple building materials: rock, brick, stucco, wood, granite, limestone, quartz, crystal, etc. The vertical dimensions and round tower denote gothic influence. The two hundred feet of surrounding verandah, and variety of color in the window glass also denote Queen Anne influence. The house had steam heat, included six working fireplaces, and was piped with gas, as well as electric (the latest innovation, however unreliable.) Mr. Hornibrook, as Vice President of Edison Electric, reportedly added the very finest convenience, including an intercom system and three "indoor" water closets complete with tubs and running, hot water. An 8 ft. Sq. stained glass skylight added elegance and interest to the upstairs. The glass tower above stretches to the roof and is beautiful in it's own right, even though it is obscured from view in the interior. Hornibrook and his family were not to enjoy his creation for long. At age 49, in 1890, Mr. Hornibrook succumbed to an "apoplectic" stroke at the front gate. Three years later Margaret died, leaving the estate to the children. Lessie Peay, their daughter, moved in with her husband to care for the younger Hornibrook children. In 1897, they leased it to the Arkansas Women's College, the first in the state. Around the turn of the century, it was sold to Asbury S. Fowler an insurance agent and former federal marshal. It remained a private residence until after his death in 1922. Mrs. Fowler remained in the house until the depression forced her to move to smaller quarters. It was unoccupied until the 1940's when it was used as a rooming house for women during W.W.II. Former residents tell of working in the munitions factory in Jacksonville and being courted by their "beaus" on the large verandah at night. In 1947, Claire Freeman who turned it into a nursing home purchased it. In the 1970's, it was again sold as a private residence and eventually turned into a number of apartments and halfway house. In December of 1993, Sharon Welch-Blair and Robert Blair purchased it... and the Dream began.

THE RHETT BUTLER ‘SYNDROME’

In 1867, James H. Hornibrook & Margaret McCulley left family and friends in Canada and moved south to Little Rock, where, along with many other Northerners, they may have been perceived as "carpetbaggers". During the occupation of the civil war, locals were not allowed to own weapons or enter certain business areas, saloons being one of them. With experience and backing from his merchant family in Toronto, Hornibrook soon became one of the wealthiest men in Arkansas. However, like Rhett Butler, he and his family were resented and not accepted by "polite Southern society" in post civil war Little Rock. His competitor, Angelo Marré, however, was awarded access to the fashionable "Scott Street" and there, completed a fine home, the Villa Marré'. Undaunted, Hornibrook, spurred by love for his wife, preceded to build the most expensive and ostentatious dwelling in the entire state. And to further flaunt society, legend has it he carried on a continuous poker game in the tower, where he paid young boys to be lookouts for the authorities. His poker game can be viewed in the tower as if he never left, and on occasional visits, his ghost reminds us he still has a "hand in the game."

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