Hotel Arkansas (Lane Hotel and Harris Hotel)

Now home to the Haas Hall Academy, the former Hotel Arkansas is considered the finest example of Spanish Colonial Revival architecture in Arkansas. Built in 1928, the former hotel was designed by architect John Parks, who was based in Little Rock and a proponent of the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The old hotel is five stories high and built with yellow brick. Notable features include a large flight of limestone steps reaching the main entrance which consists of an arcade with nine arches, a tower topped by the pyramidal roof and terra cotta finials, a Spanish-tile roof, and decorative brickwork forming small arches. The building also features street-level rental space. The hotel was the largest and finest hotel in the region, earning the nickname "The Palace of the Ozarks." It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

The hotel was named after its owner, S.A Lane, who was from Little Rock. While the late 1920s was home to an economic boom, the new hotel's expenses exceeded revenue and without the cash reserves to endure this period, the business went bankrupt and the hotel closed in 1929. The onset of the Great Depression reduced the likelihood of finding investors, but in 1935, the owner of a successful nearby bakery, Earl Harris, bought the hotel and changed the name to the Harris Hotel.

Under Harris' leadership, the hotel became a great success and known throughout northwest Arkansas. Located in between a bus station and a train depot, it was convenient to get to and it was luxurious as well. Guests of all types stayed here including movie stars and celebrities such as Emelia Earhart, Henry Fonda, and Errol Flynn. Famous musicians of the era also played in the hotel's large ballrooms. In 1939, Harris built a restaurant in the back of the hotel and named it the Orchard Room. The city's leading businessmen, politicians, and professionals dined at the restaurant regularly.

Harris sold the hotel in 1948 to Warren Felker, who changed the hotel's name to Hotel Arkansas. The hotel remained popular in the 1950s but as highway motels opened along Highway 71, its popularity started to decline. The hotel closed on July 15, 1963. It was unused for a few years before it was converted to a retirement home which closed in 1977. The building then became a retirement hotel called Rogers Townhouse, which seems to have operated until 2004. After the building was renovated in 2017, it became one of the locations of Haas Hall Academy, which has four campuses in Arkansas.

Hales, James F. "Remembering the Lane Hotel." Rogers Historical Museum. Accessed July 21, 2021. http://www.rogershistoricalmuseum.org/remembering-the-lane-hotel.html.

"Lane Hotel." National Park Service - National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form. January 28, 1988. https://www.arkansasheritage.com/docs/default-source/national-registry/BE1997-pdf.