"The Gazette Building, located at 112 West Third street in Downtown Little Rock, Arkansas, was built in 1908 for the purpose of housing the Arkansas Gazette newspaper. The Gazette was the oldest newspaper west of the Mississippi River that had been published continuously by the same name until it was purchased in 1991 by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, its longtime rival. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 22, 1976. Although recognized as an architecturally significant structure, the primary significance of the Gazette Building lies in its representation of the Arkansas Gazette. Since 2008, the building has been used as the campuses of eStem Public Charter Schools...
The Gazette Building was constructed during a plethora of substantive changes to the newspaper initiated by brothers John and Fred Heiskell who served as editor-in-chief and managing editor, respectively, during the early twentieth century. In 1948, John Heiskell appointed son-in-law Hugh B. Patterson as publisher. Joining Heiskell and Patterson was Harry Ashmore, who came on as executive editor in 1947. Ashmore correctly anticipated that the coming of the race issue would be the major story of the mid-twentieth century, and his arrival in Little Rock marked a major development in American journalism and history...
After a long newspaper war between the Democrat and the Gazette, the Gannett Company newspaper chain (publishers of USA Today), which purchased the Arkansas Gazette in 1986, shut the paper down on Oct. 18, 1991, and sold its assets — including its building and contents — to Little Rock Newspapers, Inc, now Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc., leaving over 1000 people without jobs.
A contributing factor to the buy-out had occurred five years earlier. In 1986, the Patterson Family (then owneres of the Gazette) lost their antitrust lawsuit against Walter Hussman (CEO of WEHCO Media, Inc., then publisher of the Democrat and current publisher of the Democrat-Gazette). The Patterson family alleged that the practice of selling advertising at unreasonably low costs was abusive behavior and anti competitive.
With the court decision allowing the Democrat to continue to undersell the Gazette, the Patterson family could not keep the paper running. On October 30, 1986, the Patterson family sold the Gazette to the Gannett Company.
Gannett brought in a steady stream of company executives who tried to revamp the Gazette with color photographs, jazzier stories, and more emphasis on soft news and features. Readers took umbrage at many of the changes. Hussman and the Democrat continued to use their advantage of being the locally owned product; Gannett had stockholders to answer to; Hussman answered only to his family.
Gannett also lost the Gazette's biggest advertiser, Dillard’s, when Hussman proved to William Dillard that, under Gannett, smaller advertisers were given lower rates than those given to Dillard’s. Dillard was already angry with the Gazette over a prominent story that reflected poorly on his grandson as well as a front-page story about a dispute between the company and its accounting firm which resulted in Dillard's pulling its advertising. Gannett executives’ attempts to recover the account were thwarted with Hussman's proof of lower rates.
Eventually, Gannet's attempts to compete with the rates of the Democrat resulted in substantial financial losses and eventually, the corporation was either unable or unwilling to deplete Hussman's resources. All of these factors combined to ensure an end for the 171 year old Gazette.
In 1992, the Gazette Building was used as the headquarters for the Bill Clinton presidential campaign. Upon Clinton's defeat of George H. W. Bush, there was a victory celebration at the nearby Old State House, which also served as the site of his initial campaign announcement.
In 2007, renovations began on the Gazette Building in order to house the new eStem Public Charter Schools. The school opened the 2008-2009 school year with 814 students in grades K-9. An additional grade will be added each year until it becomes a full K-12 public charter school system by the 2011-2012 school year. eStem derives its name from its stated focus which will be "the student of the economics related to the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics."
The Gazette Building is a three-story structure of reinforced concrete with terra-cotta decorative effect. The building is almost square, measuring 140 feet (43 m) by 150 feet (46 m). The floor space of the building is 15,660 square feet and covers a quarter of one city block. The building has a flat roof and projecting cornice. The most significant feature of the building is the exterior embellishment. Terra-cotta relief ornamentation exhibits the influence of Louis H. Sullivan in its floral and fruit design.
At the time of its construction, the Gazette Building was recognized as the finest newspaper buildings in the South. In 1908 it was constructed of the most fire-resistant and durable materials available. Seven thousand barrels of concrete were used in its construction.
A narrow band of terra-cotta fret-work surrounds the west and south elevations between the first and second stories. Almost all of the decorative features are located above this line on the second and third story levels. Two-story, three sided bays mark these two top stories. The spandrel panels between the second and third story windows on the bays feature terra-cotta festoons. Miniature engaged Doric-capital columns separate the three windows on each bay. Large engaged fluted Ionic-capital columns separate the bays. The frieze features wide scroll brackets above each of the Ionic columns. Bas-relief ornamentation of terra-cotta is located under the coping of the roof, above gouged patterns. Terra-cotta lion heads are found on the cornice above each of the brackets. Leaf-like decorations of terra-cotta project above the cornice.
Interiors harmonize with the exterior of the building. Floors in the first-floor corridors are of white tile. The walls are lined with Italian marble wainscotting. Extensive modernizing for business purposes has altered the interiors. Alterations to the exterior focus on the first floor windows, which have been only slightly modified. The building has been well preserved and is in excellent condition.
The Gazette Building was designed by architect George Richard Mann. Mann also had a role in designing many of the city's landmark structures including the Southern Trust Building, the Bank of Commerce, the State Bank Building (later called the Boyle Building, the Gus Blass Department Store, the addition to the Pulaski County Courthouse, and the Arkansas State Capitol." - Wikipedia