Ella Carnall Hall, built as a women’s dormitory in 1906, was one of six new buildings on the campus completed that year.
The building is named for Miss Ella Harrison Carnall, associate professor of English and modern languages at the University from 1891-94. She had been a teacher in the University’s Preparatory Department from 1881-84. She died in Fort Smith on March 30, 1894. Because of her excellence as a student and her later success as a teacher and role model for young women, the building was named in her memory.
All six buildings finished in 1906 were funded in 1905 by the Arkansas Legislature, which appropriated $90,000 for their construction. Ella Carnall Hall was by far the most costly of the six, with $35,000 appropriated for its construction. Colonial Revival in its design influence and detailing, Carnall Hall also incorporates Victorian architectural design, a typical fusing of styles by the architectural firm C.L. Thompson and O.L. Gates of Little Rock.
Carnall Hall was a priority for the campus. There had been no dormitory for young women while two new ones had been built for young men–Buchanan Hall and Hill Hall, neither of which remains today. Carnall Hall was designed to be an island unto itself, with its own kitchen, dining room, toilets and bathrooms, and an independent steam heating plant.
The placement of Carnall Hall on the extreme Northeast corner of campus was no accident. It was put the farthest possible distance from the men’s dorms. The strict separation of the sexes on college campuses was standard practice until the last third of the 20th century.
Carnall Hall was no longer used for a women’s dormitory after 1967, by which time more modern residence halls had been built. In 1969, Phi Gamma Delta fraternity began using Carnall Hall as its fraternity house, remaining until 1977. The anthropology and geography departments also moved in during the early 1970s, and the sociology department joined them in 1979.
Ella Carnall Hall was accepted for listing the National Register of Historic Places in December 1982.
Carnall Hall ceased being used for academic purposes in 1991, when the restoration of Old Main created more space for academic departments. A chain link fence was placed around the unused building. Carnall Hall continued to deteriorate and by the late 1990s had become a candidate for demolition.
Ella Carnall Hall took on new life on October 2, 2001, however, when the University’s Board of Trustees approved a plan for a private developer, Carnall Inn Development Co. LLC, to turn the structure into an historic hotel and restaurant at a cost of $6.9 million. James Lambeth was the lead architect for the project, with May Construction Co. as the contractor.
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