The Empress of Little Rock (Hornibrook House)

This house, Little Rock’s largest and most exuberant remaining example of Queen Anne, was built for James H. and Margaret Hornibrook. He operated a saloon and liquor business and used his wealth to build this lavish residence designed by Orlopp and Kusener, who practiced only briefly in Little Rock, from 1886 until the early 1890s, before departing for Dallas. Larger in scale and more sophisticated in design than other houses of its vintage still standing in Little Rock, the house exhibits the full range of Queen Anne characteristics, including a picturesque silhouette, a one-story wraparound porch, paneled brick chimneys, and a variety of windows and surface textures. A prominent corner tower, circular on its two lower stories and polygonal on the third, concludes with a polygonal pointed roof. Inside, a central circular staircase serves as a pivot from which the house’s wings radiate, and consequently all the rooms are similar in shape. The Hornibrooks died within five years of completing their house, and—perhaps because of its size and complexity—the building led a checkered existence until the 1990s, when it was rehabilitated and converted to use as a bed-and-breakfast.