Boyhood Home of President Bill Clinton

1011 Park Ave

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 14, 2024

1. Boyhood Home of President Bill Clinton Marker

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From the National Register Nomination prepared by Robin L. Baldwin & Ken Story, Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, 4/17/1995:
William Jefferson Clinton, forty-second President of the United States, lived in the house at 1011 Park Avenue, Hot Springs, Arkansas from 1954 to 1961, with his mother, stepfather, and stepbrother. Clinton lived in this house from the time he was eight until he was fifteen. As a result, this particular property is the boyhood home with the longest continual association with the President's family and it is closely associated with important events and themes in his youth. While living here, Clinton grew into an adolescent and the house reflects both his middleclass Arkansas upbringing and the particular circumstances of his youth. It can be argued that it was in this house, during sometimes turbulent years, that President Clinton first began to develop the values, morals, and socialization skills that have guided him in his later life. It was also here that he began to build his public reputation and made friendships that he has managed to maintain throughout his life.

Clinton spent two years at a local Catholic grade school before entering the Hot Spring's public school system at the nearby Ramble School, also located on Park Avenue. Within days of starting classes at Ramble,

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 14, 2024

2. Boyhood Home of President Bill Clinton Marker

Looking north from Park Avenue.

according to one biographer [David Maraniss, 1995], Clinton "seemed to be running the place." Exhibiting the social skills that would come to mark his personal style, the future President "stuck out his big right hand and introduced himself to everyone in the school as Billy Clinton." Classmates would later recount that, "He just took over the school… He didn't mean to, but he just took the place over." Clinton's earliest religious development also coincided with his initial Hot Springs years. Soon after moving to the area, Clinton was baptized at the nearby Park Place Baptist Church and regularly attended Sunday services on his own each week.

Excerpt:  The Bill Clinton Boyhood Home, also known as the Birnbaum-Shubetz House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. Built about 1896 and redesigned in the Tudor Revival in 1938, it was the home of United States President Bill Clinton between 1954 and 1961, teenage years in which he first determined to enter politics. In addition to this national historic significance, it is locally notable as an example of Tudor Revival architecture. The house is a private residence

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 14, 2024

3. Boyhood Home of President Bill Clinton

Looking north from Park Avenue.

and is not open to the public.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 14, 2024

4. Boyhood Home of President Bill Clinton (southwest elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  The boyhood home of President Bill Clinton (historically known as the Birnbaum House) was originally constructed between 1896-1900 as a two-story Victorian in the Queen Anne style. Over the years the structure underwent numerous changes achieving its current incarnation shortly after 1938. Even radically altered from its original appearance, the house still commands a rise which terraces gently down to the street. Although a full two stories in height the house appears to be only one and a half stories tall, an illusion created by the steeply pitched gabled roof. Designed in the Tudor Revival style the home nevertheless exhibits numerous other stylistic anomalies including Victorian massing, craftsman windows, and a Swiss chalet style front porch.

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 14, 2024

5. Boyhood Home of President Bill Clinton (south/front elevation)

From the National Register Nomination:  Architecturally, the house is a good local example of early twentieth century Tudor Revival-style design. The front façade facing Park Avenue is asymmetrical and dominated by two steeply pitched gables. Set into this elevation is a recessed front porch, and the exterior wall surfaces are clad in randomly laid native stone, stucco, and half-timbering. The first floor has paired three-over-one windows centered in the projecting ell. A solid front door and a small three over one stair hall window are set into the back wall of the porch to the right of the ell. The porch itself is of interesting design, reminiscent of a Swiss chalet. Square wooden columns with chamfered edges support the gracefully curving roof which intersects with the gabled roof line of the projecting ell. A porch railing of flat wooden panels pierced by inverted triangle cutouts encircles this small porch. The second floor has two sets of paired three-over-one windows — one set centered in the gable of the ell and one set in the gable set back above the porch roof.