Masonry Magazine August 2007 Page. 41
"He used a herringbone pattern, which is just absolutely meticulous work," Hope said. "When you look at it up close, there are hardly ever any cracks. The mortar is just perfect; there's none on the stones. He had to choose just the right stones to put in. It's really almost artistic when you get up and look at it."
Hope said that another unique characteristic of Owens' signature style was arcaded porches and round shoulders on chimneys. The houses built in the late '30s and '40s had a lot of arcades, paired windows and almost always had a porch on them.
In her paper "A Storm Couldn't Tear Them Down," Hope wrote that, "Cream brick trim was a defining feature of the Silas Owens Sr. mixed masonry. The standard size of the modular brick used was 4" x 2-2/3" x 8". Sometimes they were wire cut with a striated design or with a mottled face, and in some cases they were smooth faced. Brick would be obtained from Malvern, Hope, Conway or Morrilton, and often the Hiegel Lumber Company in Conway would deliver the bricks to the site. Common areas of brick placement were on window and door surrounds, louvers, at all corners of the building and outlining the arches and piers of the porch and the shoulders and throat of the chimney."
What Historical Preservation Means
MORE THAN 20 of Owens' buildings have reached historical preservation status, according to the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program. What does this mean? "It's really just an honorary designation," Hope said. "[His buildings) are listed on the National Register. It provides them with recognition through the National Parks Service as a historic building, and they have merit because of their architectural design. In this case, with the context, they have merit if they're constructed by Silas Owens Sr. because of their connection with him."
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