QQA Summer Supper at Noland Blass designed Home

Join the QQA on September 17th as we explore this dreamy mid-century modern home in the Windgate neighborhood. The 1964-65 built property includes a large percentage of furnishings that were original to the house. Catering and cocktails provided by the King Sisters who run @ The Corner Diner and previously ran Flora Jeans. This is a private home, and details of location will be shared with ticket holders closer to the event.

This home was designed by well-known architect, Noland Blass. Noland Blass, Jr., was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, on May 28, 1920.

The commission for the Brown house featured for this Supper came from Stephen G. Brown and his wife Virginia. Brown was the Vice President of the Archer Drug Company in Little Rock. They purchased an irregularly shaped plot in the Windgate neighborhood in 1964 and commissioned the firm of Erhart, Eichenbaum, Rauch & Blass to design them a new house. As Noland Blass, Jr., was the senior designer at the firm during that period, he was given the task of the creating a design for the Brown's new home. The scenic nature of the site that the Browns had purchased was also the source of some of the most difficult conditions of the project. The lot was somewhat pie-shaped and sloped dramatically from one side to the other. However, it backed up to a large natural, wooded area. Blass saw all of these features as opportunities to create something really special.

For the Brown commission, Blass drew inspiration from works by Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, specifically their designs in the late 1930s and 1940s. Blass used native stone foundation walls to create a level base for the house while also providing an open area for the drainage from the site to flow. He then curved the facade of the house to mimic the curving streets of the neighborhood. After the front curve, Blass decided to repeat the element, creating an essentially triangular plan. The entire plan of the house was centered on a glass enclosed atrium space that not only allowed in more natural light but also created an ever-changing axis and focal point for the house.