1999 List

First Hotze House

Peter Hotze, an Austrian immigrant, built a home for himself in 1869 on what was little more than a country road complete with tree stumps. Known today as the “old” or “little” Hotze House to distinguish it from its more elaborate successor behind it, the house at 17th and Main in Little Rock was endangered for lack of a plan to put the building back into use for today’s needs. Moving to Little Rock in 1857, Peter Hotze entered the general merchandise business. During the Civil War, he served with the famous Confederate Capitol Guards until 1864 when he was wounded, captured, and sent to an Ohio prison camp for the remainder of the war. In 1862, Peter’s brother Conrad arrived in Little Rock and, following Peter’s instructions, dug up $5,000 in gold to pay his brother’s Northern debts. In 1863, Conrad bought Block 166 on which the Hotze houses stand today. Returning to Little Rock after the war, Peter entered the business with John Gould Fletcher. Soon the narrowed their general business interests to cotton, pursuing the lucrative New York market. Hotze’s early payment of Northern debts meant he was able to obtain unlimited credit in the North. In 1868, Peter married Johanna Krause, moving to New York City to supervise his cotton trade. He lived in New York for 27 years, but returned to Little Rock in 1900, where he died in 1909. The symmetrical floor plan of the little Hotze House is similar to the Jeffersonian Classic style of Trapnall Hall, but the exterior is early Victorian with Italian Renaissance influence. At one time, the house was being used as a scout hut, but it has since had a period of disuse and misuse, surely leading to its endangered status. The house underwent a major restoration in 2001-2002 and is now used as a private residence.