eStem Elementary & Junior High School (Downtown)

eStem Public Charter Schools

Little Rock, Arkansas

Project Details
Elementary Building - 60,385 square feet
Junior High Building - 35,513 square feet

Awards
ASID Excellence in Design Gold Award
Quapaw Quarter Association Award of Merit
Historic Preservation Alliance Award

eStem Public Charter Schools came to WER in the early 2000s with a vision for building schools in Downtown Little Rock. 

The original Arkansas Gazette Newspaper building, built in 1908, was transformed into an elementary school. Reuse of this terra cotta clad landmark has proven a huge success through a top to bottom renovation – creating the first K-8 public school in downtown Little Rock. The highly decorative corridors on the first floor and exterior facades were restored to the Secretary of the Interiors Guidelines and National Park Service criteria for the certification applications compiled and submitted by WER. 

In 2009, the WER team presented conceptual plans to turn the Federal Reserve Bank Building and annex into a High School for eStem. The new high school would be directly across the street from the Lower School of the charter. 

Working closely with Southern Bancorp, the building’s owner, the 1924 historic landmark in downtown Little Rock was transformed to serve 500 high school students as Arkansas’ first public charter high school. This project was awarded an ASID Excellence in Design Gold Award, a Quapaw Quarter Association Award of Merit and a Historic Preservation Alliance Award. 

The success of the eStem Public Charter Schools has exceeded everyone’s expectations since its establishment in 2008. With a waiting list of 1,200 children in Little Rock and its vicinity, it became apparent that an expansion was a vital short term goal for the eStem administration. In 2017, the downtown High School Building was turned into a Junior High facility and the High School students moved to the newly established eStem High School on the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus.