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Central Avenue - East SideDesoto Hotel (Howe Hotel, 1926) 201 CentralThe DeSoto Hotel, constructed of red brick in 1926 by William Howe, has eight floors marked by five rows of symmetrical fenestration beginning on the third floor. Note the facade's terra-cotta band above the 7th floor windows. Above that are terra-cotta squares and cartouches, then the cornice and above, the 8th floor penthouse. Originally named the Howe Hotel, the building was designed by Sanders and Ginocchio. Arkansas Craft Gallery (Wade Clinic, 1927) 231 CentralFour-story structure, constructed by Charles Thompson firm with dressed stone facade capped by a parapet with urn-shaped balusters. Single casement windows of upper three stories grow shorter with less detail as they ascend. Curved block modillions line the simple cornice. 
Arlington Hotel III (Arlington Hotel II, 1925) Central/foundationThe 1924 Arlington Hotel was designed by Mann and Stern, (also designers of Fordyce). Constructed of buff brick, the Central position is 11 stories with two splayed 7-story wings. Note the domed towers with balconies and projecting two-story loggia. This Arlington Hotel is just north of the site of the first Arlington Hotel built in 1875, and the second built in 1892 and destroyed by 1923 fire. Historic Park Hotel 211 Fountain (lobby only)Formerly a luxury hotel noted for its solarium and roof garden parties. Hotel lobby retains early charm in tall columns, water fountain, tile floors and marble trim. New owners, the Shirmers, currently restoring architectural detailing, Note original metal doors and windows. Superior Bathhouse, 1916 Bathhouse RowThe Superior Bathhouse closed one year short of being in business a century. Designed by Harry Schwebke of Hot Springs, with 23 rooms and 10,655 square feet. It replaced the Superior erected in 1883 that closed in 1911. Constructed in Classical Revival style perhaps using some brick from the original Superior structure. It has corner brick pilasters on both the two-story building and the sunporch. Brick parapets top the flat roofs. Bath halls feature exceptionally fine marble and brass. Hale Bathhouse, 1893 / 1914 / 1938 Bathhouse RowThe present Hale was the 5th bathhouse bearing that name. the core of the building dates to 1892, but it has been seriously modified twice. Architects Thompson, Sanders and Ginocchio redesigned the Hale in 1938, removing 1914 Neoclassical theme of Mann and Stern, replacing it with a Spanish Revival. The red brick was stuccoed, and hip-roof added and covered with red tiles. Two windows received wrought-iron grilles. Note the arcuated (bent-like bows) windows, and the double-curved parapet with terra-cotta name. It is unusual that wooden floors still exist in the Hale which is overall in excellent condition. Maurice Bathhouse, 1912 / 1915 Bathhouse RowOn the site of the old Independent Bathhouse, the Maurice opened January 1, 1912, after a design by George Gleim of Chicago. Remodeled in 1915 by Mann and Stern. The 100 foot x 100 foot building, an eclectic mixture of Italian and Spanish Renaissance Revival, is brick and stucco with inset colored tiles. Note two projecting wings that flank a recessed central block, the predominate hip roof and arched window and door openings. The third-floor-center pyramidal skylight crowns the interior dark-paneled Roycroft Den (named after Elbert and Craft movement) that remains with inglenook fireplace and flanking benches. Building was equipped with 30 tubs capable of offering 650 baths per day. Maurice also had a roof garden, and in the 1930's, a therapeutic pool. Fordyce Bathhouse, 1915 Bathhouse RowThe Fordyce, designed by Mann and Stern, is a Renaissance Revival structure with Spanish and Italiante elements - the largest and most ornate structure on Bathhouse Row. Erected on the site of famous Palace Bath house by Colonel S.W. Fordyce in 1915 who believed the waters restored his health. Note lavish terra-cotta window embellishments, Batesville limestone porch and stained glass and copper marquee with Greek design motifs. Under the cornice, the heavy frieze is embellished with a vase design. Windows of the Fordyce are unequaled - note the 2nd and 3rd floor windows that share a terra-cotta frame that arches at the top with terra-cotta friezes between the windows. Palace Bathhouse (ghost), 1878-1913The Palace Bathhouse stood on the site of the Fordyce Bathhouse from 1878-1913, built after the Clayton Bathhouse burned on that site in 1877. Charles Maurice and Samuel Fordyce built the Palace. It contained four parlors/cooling rooms, two for each of the sexes, as well as a department of electricity and massage. 
Quapaw Bathhouse, 1922 Bathhouse RowUnusual architectural features of the Quapaw, completed in 1922, include large Moorish-style dome(on octagonal base), covered with tiles and capped with a copper cupola; a groin-vaulted sunporch and the cartouche above the entrance with a carved Indian head set into double-curved parapets with shells and fish. Spanish Colonial Revival building of 24,000 square feet with underground tufa and gunnite grotto in the basement, containing the Quapaw Spring valued by the Indians. Ozark Bathhouse, 1922 Bathhouse RowThe Ozark, Spanish Revival Style, is trapezoidal in plan, although the front elevation is symmetrical. Designed by Mann and Stern of Little Rock with 14,000 sq. ft.. Tiered twin towers flank the front entrance. Like the Quapaw and Maurice, front sunporch was originally open. Note decorative car-touches over the windows of pavilions that form the base of the towers, as well as the window planter design work. The Ozark's scroll and shield cartouche depicting the Tree of Life was selected for National Park Service's 75th anniversary design. The Ozark, which closed in 1977, replaced a Victorian wooden structure of the same name. 
Buckstaff Bathhouse, 1912 Bathhouse RowThis handsome Neoclassical Revival building, still operating as a bathhouse, opened in 1912 (replacing the wooded Victorian Rammelsburg). The architect Frank W. Gibbs' design - simple and strong - received few changes through the years. Engaged Tuscan columns divide the main facade into 7 bays flanked by pavilions at north and south ends. Brick is accented by white stucco finished at column base, spandrels, friezes, cornices and parapets, as well as brass handrails and letters. First floor windows are arched, second are rectangular and third are small rectangles with classical urns between them. Lamar Bathhouse, 1923 Bathhouse RowThis youngest bathhouse designed in the California Modern Style by Harry Schwebke (designer also of Superior), operated until 1985. Erected on the site of a 1888 Victorian wooden structure, also called the Lamar, in honor of then-Secretary of the Interior Lucius Q. C. Lamar. Two story reinforced concrete structure with classical revival elements of symmetry, cornices and pediments articulating front entrance and sun porch windows with Tudor arches that evoke English associations. Note decorative tiles at the entrance and lobby murals. Administration Building, 1936 Bathhouse RowThis building faces Reserve and backs to the Lamar in order to "turn the corner" and introduce the south end of the landscaped Grand Promenade. Thus Bathhouse Row is not just a strictly linear row. Completed in 1936 according to designs by Charles Peterson of the National Park Service, this Spanish Colonial Revival Building has had relatively few changes. Rehabilitation Center (Army/Navy Hospital, 1933) Central/ReserveThe first permanent military hospital in the country was built above Bathhouse Row at the south end - a red brick, wood and slate structure that opened in 1887. Its replacement, opening in 1933 at a cost of 1 1/2 million dollars, is the current nine-story buff brick, bi-winged building that served as the Army-Navy Hospital until 1959. During the 40's the government erected a ramp to connect it to the Hotel Eastman to expand facilities into that structure to care for soldiers returning home. The Riviera Hotel, 1930 (Navarre Hotel, 1901) 719 CentralThe five-story brick Riviera Hotel almost duplicates the design of its predecessor - the Navarre Hotel built in 1901 (later named the Marquette in honor of the 17th century French explorer). Lateral bays made up of 4-story-high identical arches. The openings are huge in comparison to the delicate masonry beams that seem to support them, thus sending the clear message that the building's support structure is an internal skeleton. Malco Theatre, 1935 (Princess Theatre, 1910) 817 CentralThe Princess Theatre was built in 1910. It was the first theatre in Hot Springs to show sound movies in the year of 1929. The Princess Theatre burned in 1935 and owner Sidney Nutt then built what is known as the Malco Theatre. New owners bought, redecorated and reopened the Malco in 1962. The Malco is an Art-Deco style building featuring alternating vertical panels of stucco and glass above the full width, five-color neon marquee. 
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