With the help of a grant from the National Park Service, WER is providing restoration services to restore the exterior of the historic James Monroe Cox Building on the Little Rock campus of Philander Smith College.

The building was designed by local architects Charles Thompson and John Parks Arnold in 1915 as the U.M. Rose Elementary School. The work includes the restoration of such historic materials as the terra cotta cornice and parapet coping caps, brick exterior facade, limestone bands and steps, wood windows and doors, interior lime plaster on wood lath and wood floors and trim.

This project requires working closely with the National Park Service regional office in Atlanta and the local State Historic Preservation Office to ensure that the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation are followed.