FLETCHER-HEISKELL HOUSE
ca. 1892/1919
1708 Louisiana Street

The Fletcher-Heiskell House dates to 1892 when Frank M. Fletcher, a first cousin of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet John Gould Fletcher, Jr., built a Queen Anne-style cottage at this location.  Fletcher was the founder of the Fletcher Coffee and Spice Company, a firm once located in an East Markham Street building that is today part of the Arkansas Studies Institute. 

In 1910, J. N. Heiskell, President and Editor of the Arkansas Gazette, purchased the home.  Unfortunately, fire all but completely destroyed the original Queen Anne structure ca. 1918.  Construction of the present Dutch Colonial Revival home was begun and completed soon afterward using only a few minor elements from the previous house.  Architect George R. Mann, who designed the Arkansas State Capitol and was the father-in-law of Heiskell, is thought to have designed the house, although no written documentation exists to confirm his work. 

In 1956, the Heiskells sold the house to a group of German nuns who operated a pre-school and kindergarten on the site until 1969.  By 1994, the house was vacant and seriously deteriorated.  The house was purchased and restored as a single family home in 1999-2000.