Guy Home Economics Building

The Guy Home Economics Building, located in the Guy-Perkins School District complex at 492 Highway 25 in Guy (Faulkner County), is a single-story, Craftsman-style building constructed around 1936 with assistance from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a Depression-era federal relief program. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 10, 1992.

School consolidation in Faulkner County in 1929–30 led to the creation of the Guy-Perkins School District No. 34 when the Guy, Rowlett, Perkins, Chinquapin, and Hendrickson districts, all in Faulkner County, were merged. The fledgling district decided to pursue funding through President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal for a building to house its home economics program at its Guy complex.

The district’s 1935 application to the WPA was successful, and a card in the WPA’s central office files notes that $4,363 was approved October 25, 1935 to “const. bldg.” in Guy, presumably the Guy Home Economics Building. Completed in 1936, the rectangular building is sheathed in cut stone and entered through a door covered by a projecting arched entrance. Exposed rafter tails and brackets in the eaves, along with the other natural materials, reflect the Craftsman style of architecture.

The Guy Home Economics Building continues to serve the Guy-Perkins School District in the twenty-first century.

For additional information:
Baker, William D. Public Schools in the Ozarks, 1920–1940. Little Rock: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 1990. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/News-and-Events/publications (accessed April 29, 2020).

Dolan, Doris B., Hattie Anne Kelso, and Corinne H. Robinson, eds. Faulkner County: Its Land and People. Conway, AR: Faulkner County Historical Society, 1986.

Hope, Holly. An Ambition to be Preferred: New Deal Recovery Efforts and Architecture in Arkansas, 1933–1943. Little Rock: Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 2006. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/News-and-Events/publications (accessed April 29, 2020).

Petrucelli, Fred. “Faulkner Buildings Steeped in Historical Significance.” Faulkner Facts and Fiddlings 33 (Spring–Summer 1991): 29–34.

Story, Kenneth. “Guy Home Economics Building.” National Register of Historic Places registration form. On file at Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, Little Rock, Arkansas. Online at http://www.arkansaspreservation.com/National-Register-Listings/PDF/FA0860.nr.pdf (accessed April 29, 2020).

WPA Central Office Files, Ala.-Ark. (Jeff. Co.). Arkansas State Archives, Little Rock, Arkansas.

Mark K. Christ
Central Arkansas Library System