Editor's Note: The following article was provided by South Arkansas Heritage Museum
In 1892, Dr. Henry Alvan Longino arrived in Magnolia, the county seat of Columbia County, from north Louisiana where he discovered a thriving community with abundant resources in agriculture and virgin timber. With the construction of the Cotton Belt Railroad in 1882, Magnolia had become an important shipping point for both cotton and lumber.
By the turn of the century, a large cotton compress and other manufacturing companies were established along the railroad. Thus, it was during this first period of Magnolia's economic expansion (the second arrived in 1928 with the opening of the oil fields) that Dr. Longino established himself as a physician, businessman, and real estate investor. Soon after his arrival, he became a business partner with Dr. D. D. Goode, with whom he operated the Longino & Goode Drug Store in Magnolia.
Dr. Longino's prosperity and position of leadership in the community is reflected in his stately residence erected on Main Street in 1910, which was the design of Eugene C. Seibert of the Witt, Seibert and Halsey architectural firm in Texarkana, Arkansas. Eugene C. Seibert, educated at New York City's Columbia University (Established in 1754, Columbia is the oldest institution of higher education in New York and the fifth-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States) and the Case School of Applied Science, was best known as the architect of the Central Christian Church and the Miller County Courthouse in Texarkana. He was also a founder of the Arkansas Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in 1921.
The finely-crafted Longino House is one of the most distinguished residences along Magnolia's Main Street, deriving its monumentality from simple massing and detail, strict symmetry, broad entablature, and brick quoins. Several features, such as its symmetry, cubic proportions, quoins, and overhanging roof recall twentieth-century versions of the Italianate style, however the design skillfully incorporates another strain in architecture of this period, the Craftsman aesthetic. This is evident in the careful elaboration and articulation of the materials of the house; the brick of the façade, the terra cotta tiled roof, and the rich interior oak woodwork. The open informal interior spaces, the French doors leading to the upstairs porch, the casement windows, and window seat recall Craftsman ideas about healthy, open-air living as well.
317 W. MAIN HOME
Fine craftsmanship and attention to detail characterize both the exterior and interior of the Longino House, immediately evident on the exterior in the narrow brick quoins of alternating lengths which frame each corner of the structure, the brick piers which support the concrete porch, and the three chimneys each with simple brick banding. The broad entablature is a dominant element in the façade, creating a sense of formality and horizontality to the composition. This entablature wraps the entire house and outlines the porch and porte-cochére roof as well. It is characterized by simple moldings which form the architrave and the transition from the wide, unembellished frieze to the cornice with boxed gutters.
A strong central focus is created by the large beveled plate glass entrance door, and on the second story, by the slender French doors with sidelights and transoms of small multi-lights, which open onto the roof to provide anchors for a balustrade, further accenting the horizontality.
The Mission-style terra cotta roof has cresting tiles with matching finials. Combined with the brick façade, the quoins [The architectural term “quoins” is defined as the masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. They exist in some cases to provide actual strength for a wall and in other cases to make a feature of a corner, giving an impression of permanence and strength, and reinforcing the viewer's sense of a structure's presence.] create a warm, textural interest. The windows in the house are double-hung with twelve-over-one lights, symmetrically arranged on each elevation. The west elevation is characterized by the projection of the dining room alcove, also framed by brick quoins, and in which slender casement double windows are hung that resemble French doors.
The double windows at the stair landing are not original to the house, but were added at a later date, and are appropriate to the period. The east elevation features two chimneys, one interior and one exterior and the porte-cochére at the northeast corner. The south elevation is the most asymmetrical, with one bay of the house projecting slightly. In the angle of this projection and extending beyond it is a single story rear porch, enclosed with lattice work. A small window through which blocks of ice could be delivered opens from this porch into the adjoining butler’s pantry. A rear exterior chimney spans the space between the two dining room windows. At the back west corner of the lot stands the single outbuilding, a one-story weatherboard carriage house with clipped gable tin roof which has served as a double garage for many years.
The exterior of the house has undergone scarcely any alteration. The brick porte-cochére was added shortly after the house was built to accommodate Dr. Longino's first automobile. (NOTE: Sanborn maps indicate the porte-cochére was added to the house not long after it was built, sometime between 1912 and 1917.)
The symmetry of the exterior is modified somewhat in the interior spaces. One enters a spacious room-sized foyer with subordinated stairway to the right (west).
Two rooms flank the foyer. Adjoining the parlor to the south is Dr. Longino's day room, which opens to the rear service stairway and to the kitchen. The dining room is in the southeast back corner. Linking the dining room to the kitchen on the east is the butler's pantry with built-in cabinets. The finely crafted interior details appear to have a somewhat eclectic blend of both Craftsman and Victorian elements. Craftsman ideas are apparent in the sense of openness and spaciousness, easy access to the outdoors, and in the simple but rich oak woodwork of the moldings, plate rails, cornices, and paneled doors. The entrances to the principal main floor room are framed by wide openings with oak-paneled pocket doors.
The main staircase, an open-string type with large landing and paneled oak wainscot, has a simply paneled newel post and slender square balusters. Simply detailed mantels and over-mantels, shelves, and variegated tiles in earth tones are the focal points in both the parlor and bedroom above it. The parlor is further enriched by a ceiling of darkly stained oak beams laid in square patterns. Throughout most of the main floor, both crown moldings and picture moldings form continuous horizontal bands.
The eclectic blend of Craftsman and Victorian elements is most pronounced in the dining room. Its well-lit, spacious dimensions are augmented by a large alcove with built-in window seats and by long double casement windows which open to the garden outside. In a somewhat contrasting Victorian mode, one enters the alcove through a wide semi-circular archway of oak molding with foliate design cartouche. Interesting patterns are in the dining room are created by the strips of crown molding, picture molding, baseboards, and chair rail. On the second floor, the main stairway leads to an upstairs hall spacious enough to serve as a sitting area, from which open the four large bedrooms and one bath.
At the front of the house, the sewing room opens onto the upper tier of the front porch through French doors. Throughout the house, all of the original brass hardware is intact. Despite severe disrepair, most of the original interior remained intact when the next owners, Galloway and Anne Woodward, purchased the house in the late 1970s and began carefully restoring the interior. In April 2019, this historic structure was generously donated to South Arkansas Heritage Museum by the Galloway and Anne Woodward family.
SUMMARY: The H.A. Longino House is significant as one of the largest and most imposing houses built in Magnolia around 1910 and as one of the few surviving and virtually intact houses known to have been designed by a prominent architect in southwest Arkansas, Eugene C. Seibert. Its design is unusual in Magnolia, representing a transition from the formality and symmetry of turn-of-the-century Revival styles to a more modern Craftsman aesthetic. Built in 1910 by a leading local physician, Dr. Henry Alvan Longino, the structure reflects a period of economic security in Magnolia and its surrounding area.