Now Demolished, this Resort was Built in a Small Town in AR

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The Sunset Hotel in Bella Vista, was constructed in 1929 by the Linebarger brothers' who developed Bella Vista as a regional summer vacation and leisure resort in what had been an extremely rural and undeveloped part of Benton County.

The resort community of Bella Vista, Arkansas was the brainchild of the Linebarger brothers of Dallas, Texas, who purchased the property around Sugar Creek in 1918 from the Reverend William S. Baker and his wife Mary, who had earlier attempted, without success, to establish a small resort community of their own on the site. The Linebarger brothers, Forest W., Clayton C. and Clarence A., though living in Texas in 1918, had all attended primary and secondary school in the Bentonville area during their youth, as their father had brought the family to the area from Indiana in 1898 due to their mother's poor health and the relatively mild climate in the Ozark Mountains of northwest Arkansas. The Linebarger brothers were thus intimately familiar with the beautiful landscape and temperate climate of the area, and recognized the development potential of this previously-inaccessible area created by the simultaneous occurrence of a growing interest in health and recreation facilities, and the increasing popularity of the automobile, and both on a national scale. The Linebarger brothers envisioned a summer vacation community that would provide entertainment, recreation and leisure activities for all of the surrounding mid--West and mid-South regions, and specifically targeted their marketing efforts to the states of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Kansas.

The Linebarger brothers established the resort community of Bella Vista having already successfully platted the town of Tomball, Texas, and thus brought that experience with them. Clearly, their experience paid off, as by 1928, the first ten years that their active development and promotion of Bella Vista was in progress, they had constructed no fewer than 450 cabins, either for purchase or for seasonal rental. However, their initial efforts were focused on the eastern side of the Sugar Creek valley, and it was here that virtually all of this early construction took place. By 1927, however, it became evident that West Mountain would provide equally attractive house lots in the same rustic setting as those constructed earlier, and thus would prove equally profitable.

It was as part of the effort to develop West Mountain that the Sunset Hotel was conceived and constructed. Though two buildings containing facilities for overnight guests were built in 1918 as part of the initial spurt of construction, these were all located toward the eastern part of the valley, and were less accessible to West Mountain. As salesmen were already beginning to sell lots here in 1927, an overnight facility was needed for prospective buyers of the West Mountain lots that was more convenient to those lots, and that also provided superior accommodations and services. The Benton County Record and Democrat of September 8^th, 1927 includes the first mention of formal plans to construct such a hotel, listing the popular Benton County architect A.O. Clarke of Rogers as the designer. The Linebarger brothers planned to spend $100,000 on the new hotel, thus heralding one of the finest hotels in the region. The article also mentions the majestic site, the visibility of the hotel from the valley, and the plans for large, cool rooms and plenty of open porch space to enjoy the mild summer evenings.

Another article in the Record and Democrat of June 20^th, 1929 announcing the opening of the new hotel documents the history of the changes to A.O. Clarke's design. Originally intended to present a "fortress-like appearance," Clarke's scheme reportedly employed a medieval vocabulary (probably Romanesque in nature, though those drawings have not survived) that utilized massive, imposing towers on the principal, central section overlooking the valley below. C.A. Linebarger, who, by the way, later took sole and total credit for the as-built design, altered Clarke's design to modify the appearance of the structure to a "modified Colonial." The resulting design is actually neither one or the other, instead resembling many of the simplified Colonial Revival designs that would become popular for public works construction around the nation during the Depression of the 1930's.

Reportedly, the Sunset Hotel was constructed in only 90 days by one-hundred laborers under the direct supervision of C.A. Linebarger and his contractor, a Mr. Johnny Ames. The native lumber for all of the construction except the exterior weatherboarding was oak. The hotel formally opened in 1929 with a gala reception, and offered guests a total of 65 rooms from which to choose, each featuring a private bathroom complete with tub, toilet and lavatory, and hot and cold running water. The main floor of the northern wing contained both the restaurant and a bandstand from which the diners were entertained by a live, ten-member orchestra. The second and basement (on the eastern side) floors, and all of the southern wing consisted solely of rooms. The three-story, central section included the main lobby on the principal floor, with a lounge area above that was used for bridge parties, receptions and other functions.

Constructed by the Linebarger brothers as part of their effort to encourage the development of the West Mountain section of the Bella Vista resort, the Sunset Hotel is directly related to that development effort and to the history of their evolving plans for the growth of this community.

Building Description

The Sunset Hotel is a three-story, wood frame hotel building designed in a simplified Colonial Revival vocabulary. Its large central section, with its three-story, columned front porch, is flanked by two identical wings that recede back at identical angles, forming a shallow "V." The continuous stone foundation supports the weatherboarded walls and the asphalt shingle roof.

The Sunset Hotel is a large, three-story, wood frame hotel building designed in a simplified Colonial Revival vocabulary. Its large central section, with its three story, columned front porch, is flanked by two identical wings that recede back at identical angles, forming a shallow "V." Though later flues vent the current heating system, a stone chimney formerly rose through the roof of the center section. The continuous stone foundation supports the weatherboarded walls and the asphalt shingle roof.

The eastern or front elevation of the building (the three-story front porch section faces out over the valley from the impressive, hill-top site) is composed of three sections: the central, hipped roof porch section placed between the two wings that recede back to the west at an angle, forming the shallow "V" plan. The central section is composed of enclosed first and third stories, and an open second story (the first and third stories have always been enclosed; the enclosed northern bay of the second story porch was done in the mid-1960's). The windows in the third story are all of the six-over-six wood sash variety found throughout the structure; the windows on the first story, however, are more recent aluminum windows, as is the pair of windows in the northern bay of the second story porch. The porch itself is accessed via a pair of single-leaf doors with transoms from the lobby area behind, and lighted with three six-over-six wood sash windows. This section is completed with the central, triangular wall dormer with its central square louvered attic vent. The southern wing is seven bays in length, the northern six of which are lighted with pairs of six-over-six wood sash windows on each of the three floors, placed symmetrically across the elevation, with the southern, seventh bay lighted with a single identical window on each floor. The northern wing is fenestrated on the second floor with a single pair of windows placed just to the north of the central section, followed by a bank of identical windows that light the original dining area/ballroom behind. The third story above is fenestrated with a single window to the south and pairs of windows extending to the north. The first floor is punctuated only by pairs of windows (this story is interrupted by a later concrete block utility room placed near the center of the elevation).

The western elevation opposite has always provided the principal automobile access to the hotel, as a large driveway circles in front of the three single-leaf doors that access the vestibule leading into the lobby area itself. This elevation is very similar to the one opposite, the only exceptions being the absence of three stories on this side, due to the sloping site, and the replacement of the porches on the central section with a single projecting porch, supported on box columns, to which a porte cochere has been added more recently.

The northern and southern elevations are quite similar, as both go from two stories on the west to three stories on the east, responding to the decrease in grade. The principal difference between the two is the stone cellar on the southern elevation and an additional pair of windows on the first floor.

The only exterior detail of note is restricted to the three story front porch, the second story of which features a balustrade and the box columns that support the third story. Otherwise, even the large balcony over the entrance on the western elevation is ornamented only with a balustrade and a dentil course just beneath the cornice.

The interior is remarkably intact in spite of the 1965 conversion of the entire facility into a sales office by the current owners. The lobby retains its original rustic stone fireplace and chimney, the registration desk for the hotel (complete with stone counter shelves) and virtually all of the original plaster and wood door and window trim. Several of the individual room have been altered somewhat, but some retain all of their original trim, and none have suffered the removal of original walls or ceilings.

Apart from the filling of the northern bay of the front porch, the replacement of a few of the original windows and the addition of some interior non-load bearing partitions, the Sunset Hotel is intact and unaltered.

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