As part of Arts & the Park 2024, the Garland County Library will host an encore/follow-up presentation of Diana McDaniel Hampo’s popular program “The Architect’s Daughter” at 11 a.m. Friday, May 3, the Garland County Historical Society said in a news release.
Originally given to the Historical Society, this program will feature additional information and photographs as well as a question-and-answer session with Hampo, the release said.
“Since the 1920s, much of Hot Springs’ landscape has been shaped by two architects, I. Donald McDaniel and his son, I. Granger McDaniel. From Hamilton House and First United Methodist Church to City Hall, the Weyerhaeuser building, Horner Hall, and the Vapors, these two men designed many of the city’s most iconic buildings,” it said.
“Several of their designs are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and both men were exceptionally influential. The buildings and homes produced by I. Granger McDaniel are almost everywhere you look in Hot Springs and are generally regarded as some of the best examples of Modernism in the city. Their lives were as interesting as their architecture. Young I. Granger was a pilot with the RAF in WW II and spent four years in a Nazi prisoner-of-war camp. In fact, the Steve McQueen character in the movie ‘The Great Escape’ was based on his POW experiences. A twist of fate while in the POW camp eventually had an enormous impact on his architectural style,” the release said.
In her presentation, Hampo shares stories about her father, I. Granger McDaniel, and reveals some little-known history about many of the buildings he designed in Hot Springs.
