A brief history of the Pike-Fletcher-Terry Mansion in Little Rock, AR

The Pike-Fletcher-Terry Mansion

c. 1840

The Pike-Fletcher-Terry House has been widely recognized as an architectural landmark since its construction in 1840. It has housed several prominent Arkansas families and served as a school and museum. The house hosted the Women’s Emergency Committee to Open Our Schools (WEC) during the aftermath of the desegregation of Little Rock Central High School in 1957. Although the house was remodeled several times, it retains much of its original Greek Revival character. The Pike-Fletcher-Terry House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 21, 1972.

In 1889, the property ownership was transferred to John G. Fletcher and his wife, Adolphine Krause Fletcher. The couple had three children and made numerous changes to the property. The classroom building from the Female College was removed, as was the original two-story kitchen building, which was replaced with an indoor kitchen. A conservatory was added on the east side and a porch on the west side, and the low roof was replaced with a much steeper one.

Photos of the Arkansas Female College courtesy of Arkansas State Archives

Possibly the most well known resident of the Pike-Fletcher-Terry Mansion, Adolphine Fletcher Terry, took ownership in 1910 after her mother passed away. The property was willed to Adolphine and her two siblings.

Adolphine Fletcher Terry spent much of her life working for the causes of educational improvement, public libraries, and racial harmony. She was well known as the leader of the WEC, and many of the meetings were held in her house, a fact that is commemorated by the etched names of the committee members in the glass panels of the conservatory.

Adolphine would go on to chair the very first QQA Tour of Homes in 1963.

Photo of Adolphine Fletcher Terry from the Fletcher-Terry Family Papers, 1826-1976 (UALR.MS.0018), courtesy of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Center for Arkansas History and Culture.

Deeded to the city of Little Rock in 1964, the house was used as a museum and opened as the Arkansas Arts Center Decorative Arts Museum in March 1985. In 2004, it became the Arkansas Arts Center Terry House Community Gallery, a multi-purpose gallery in which local and regional art was shown.

Within a few years, the house had been vacated and left to sit empty until it was added to Preserve Arkansas’s “Most Endangered” list in 2021. Shortly after, heirs of Adolphine Fletcher Terry and Mary Fletcher Drennan filed suit against the City of Little Rock, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, and the museum’s foundation, alleging that, by allowing the property to fall into disrepair, the city and museum have violated the terms by which the property was conveyed, and thus the house should be returned to the family. After years in the courts, the Fletcher heirs were awarded the return of the property and a portion of the original endowment.

15 heirs of the family were awarded ownership of the house. After the development of a non-profit to care for the house, and a mission to use the house in a public manner, the family and heirs have decided to sell the property. Their hope is that “someone who loves the house and grounds and appreciates the significant Arkansas history associated with the people connected to the house will see the benefit of preserving the property.”

The QQA is dedicated to preserving this 1840 built home and the history that accompanies it. 

Historical overview of the Pike-Fletcher-Terry mansion courtesy of the Encyclopedia of Arkansas.