Jay Lewis House

Stone designed this house for businessman and former New Yorker Jay Lewis, whose wife was from McGehee. It is one of only five residences Stone designed in Arkansas. The gable-fronted house is built of vertical cypress siding on a red brick foundation. The entrance is in the center of the facade, and the wall area above the entrance to the peak of the gable is composed of windows. In plan, the house has a central living space, with a dining room, kitchen, and den on one side and bedrooms and baths on the other, thus separating private and public use of space. The Lewis residence is an example of Stone’s desire to eliminate the use of corridors and hallways, which he considered wasted space. In part he was inspired by the plans of dogtrot houses, an indigenous Arkansas and southern type. Stone had already designed two houses similar in plan and exterior appearance to the Lewis house, one in Englewood, New Jersey, and the other in Darien, Connecticut, both dating to 1954. In correspondence to the Lewises, the architect’s office described the construction of the house as “plank and beam.” This construction system made it possible to extend the deck out around the exterior, making the rooms seem larger and lending the house an ethereal floating appearance. The ceilings of the living areas and the porch overhangs employ the same planking, thus creating continuity between the interior and exterior.