Wittenberg, Delony, and Davidson
Wittenberg, Delony, and Davidson is an architectural firm founded in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1919. It is the second largest architectural firm in the state, with forty-one employees and nine principals. The firm is named for George H. Wittenberg, Lawson L. Delony, and Julian Bunn Davidson. In 1976 leadership passed from Wittenberg to Tom Gray. The current company president is Tom Adams, who took over the presidency in 1987. Other current partners are Brad Chilcote, Chad Young, Ed Peek, Jack See, John Sloan, Richard Alderman, Roy St. Clair, and Wallie Sprick.
The company designed First Security Center at the corner of President Clinton Avenue and Sherman streets as well as the Pour House Restaurant in the historic Little Rock River Market District. The firm also designed the Fausett Administration Building at Hendrix College, the private Little Rock Air Center, Woodland Heights Retirement Center, Fairfield Plaza, the Rogers Building, the Stephens Building, Metropolitan National Bank, the 1998 expansion of the Statehouse Convention Center, and the public parking decks at the corners of Sixth and Scott streets and Second and Commerce streets. They are also renovators on the Legacy Hotel and the CED Building.
The earliest projects by the firm were the new Little Rock High School. Prominent projects of the 1960s included the Empire Life Building, the Arkansas State Health Department building and the Arkansas State Hospital. In the 1970s the firm won awards for the Regions Center office building, Riceland Foods, the University of Arkansas Student Union and a home for Gordon Wittenberg.
Wittenberg, Delony, and Davidson has designed hotels, hospitals, schools, and jails. The company designed Tyndall Dickinson Hall at UALR, the Pulaski County Jail, The firm has also conducted business outside of the state.
In 1979 the firm proposed the City Riverfront concept to create a gateway to Little Rock along the Arkansas River downtown. The concept included a landscaped park, splash fountains, a marker identifying La Petite Roche, an amphitheater, walkways, boat docks, pedestrian walkways, mixed use development, and new close-in parking.
In 1991 the company opened a branch office in Fayetteville under the management of Glen Woodruff. The first architect at the branch was Richard Alderman. Alderman's first major project for the firm was the 24,000 square foot, $8.31 million Fayetteville Town Center.
References
- Elisa Crouch, "Developer Plans Hotel-Office-Condo Tower for River Market," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 23, 2002.
- Laura Kellams, "Construction of Town Center Gets Under Way," Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, August 25, 1999.
- Wittenberg, Delony, and Davidson, City Riverfront: Little Rock, AR (Little Rock, AR: Little Rock Unlimited Progress, 1979).
