Daylight Donuts in North Little Rock, AR.

The Daylight Donuts located in the Lakehill Shopping Center in North Little Rock, AR is a great example of local, or vernacular, Modern architecture. This building was originally built as a bank in the 1950's but has since stopped handing out cash and started handing out delicious fried goodness. The modern lines of the building are very apparent. The clean, smooth horizontal plane, large expanse of glass, and exposed structural systems all point to its modernity. There are very clear influences of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in the polished granite exterior to the simplicity of form. These elements echos some of the design forms we see in Mie van der Rohe's highly acclaimed and widely admired Barcelona Pavilion in Barcelona, Spain. This is a highly overlooked building, even hundreds of people drive by it everyday. Given the difficulty I have had in finding any information on this building, it is safe to say that this once remarkable example of vernacular Modern architecture has slipped out of the public memory. If anyone has any information on the history of this building, I would appreciate hearing it.

Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona, Spain, 1929