Preservation in Mississippi
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Jackson’s Municipal Library
The Northside Sun published an article last week about the old Municipal Library in Jackson. Besides being a pretty cool Modern structure designed by the prominent Jackson firm of N.W. Overstreet & Associates, the building is significant for its Civil Rights history, as the site of the 1961 Tougaloo Nine sit-in. The Mississippi Heritage Trust had … Continue reading
Jane’s Walk in Mississippi
Two Mississippi cities, Starkville and Jackson, will host Jane’s Walks this Saturday, May 2. Jane’s Walks are sponsored by the Center for the Living City as a way to commemorate the work of Jane Jacobs, who as you might remember wrote The Death and Life of Great American Cities, which I excerpted in a series back in … Continue reading
MHT Preservation Curriculum
At the MHT business luncheon on Friday, Lolly Barnes mentioned the MHT Preservation Curriculum, now undergoing testing with 10 master teachers around the state. Five (out of eight) lesson plans authored by Chuck Yarborough of the Mississippi School for Math and Science are available for free use on the Mississippi Heritage Trust website, along with supporting … Continue reading
Experience Mississippi! Report
Friday (4-24), I attended Experience Mississippi!, this year’s preservation conference sponsored jointly by the Mississippi Heritage Trust and the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History. We met in the Old Capitol’s House of Representatives chamber. The theme of the conference was MHT’s 10 Most Endangered List, now celebrating its 10th anniversary. Many speakers were on … Continue reading
Mies, Mies, van der roh-ha
So after a week of berating Mies van der Rohe and his Mieslings for everything bad in architecture, here’s a little video that presents a different perspective. It’s guaranteed to keep you humming its catchy tune while you do your Saturday chores. This is the 6th and last post in a series. Wouldn’t you love to read … Continue reading
From Bauhaus to Our House: Apostates and Post-Modernists
Ok, since it’s Friday, let’s finish up on From Bauhaus to Our House. The last two chapters deal with the architects who strayed from the Modernist compounds and were ostracised from the hip and cool in-crowd. These included Edward Durell Stone, who started out Modern but married a girl from Spain who said his buildings … Continue reading
From Bauhaus to Our House: The destruction of craftsmanship
Wolfe points out in chapter 4, “Escape to Islip,” the irony that while the 20th century was the American Century, the architecture that defined that century was primarily a European import. In the same chapter, he also touches upon what he sees as the myth that Modernism was a reaction to the lack of affordable craftsmanship–that … Continue reading
From Bauhaus to Our House: Architectural Education Overthrown
In chapter three of From Bauhaus to Our House, “The White Gods,” Tom Wolfe recounts what he sees as the almost instant change in course in American architecture after the German Modernists began arriving in the late 1930s as refugees from the Nazi regime. He (I think rightly) pinpoints their most long-lasting influence as being … Continue reading
From Bauhaus to Our House: Wolfe Does Not ♥ Gropius
To start off From Bauhaus to Our House, Tom Wolfe looks at the architectural scene in Europe after World War I. The picture he paints is one of confusion in the arts and an increasing tendency to spend more time on theory than on creativity. Walter Gropius, who he calls “The Silver Prince” and “White … Continue reading
Book Quotes: From Bauhaus to Our House
I recently read–finally, way after I should have–Tom Wolfe’s From Bauhaus to Our House. Published in 1981, this is not a scholarly work, but it’s a passionate rejection of Modernist architecture and its practitioners. According to the copyright page, most of the book was published in Harper’s during the June and July issues, so you can … Continue reading
Dean Morris Alexander, Jackson preservationist extraordinaire
Check out this article in this week’s Northside Sun about Dean Morris Alexander, doyen of the 500 block of North State Street here in Jackson. I love articles like this because they shine a much-deserved light on people who have worked for years in the background to preserve our history and make their communities better … Continue reading
And the winner is . . .
You’ve finally reached the exciting conclusion to the epic trilogy of Columbus Pilgrimage. I know you’ve been anxiously awaiting the announcement of my favorite house on the tour. If only I knew how to do a drumroll here. I guess I could link to an audio file or something. It’s Waverley, of course. The house, … Continue reading
Columbus Pilgrimage Report, Part 2
I was reminded yesterday morning that I didn’t actually say what houses I had seen on the Columbus Pilgrimage. I admit that while I was writing Tuesday’s post, I got distracted by my worry that Jack Bauer might die a terrible death from nerve gas poisoning, so you’ll have to forgive the gaps in my writing. Before … Continue reading
The Tax Man Cometh
It’s tax day, ya’ll! You know what you have to do: count up all the doors and windows in your house (jib doors count as two doors and one window), also count each room including closets. Any wardrobes if you have them. Built-in cabinets . . . just because. Write the sum on a piece of … Continue reading
Columbus Pilgrimage Report
I spent two days last week making the rounds at the Columbus Pilgrimage, my first time at that pilgrimage. Stayed at the Lincoln House, behind the Amzi Love House, which was nice–enjoyed walking out through the jib windows and sitting on the porch swing sipping hot tea and watching the night. My other pilgrimage experience has been … Continue reading
NR Joins Flickr
Wow, the National Register office is getting so hip to the lingo, they’re now posting photos on Flickr! I’m not sure whether they plan to add all the National Register photos from their entire collection from the last 40 years or so, but here’s what they say in their Flickr profile: Photographs posted by this account … Continue reading
Historic Windows/Energy Efficiency
Post Ratings: Negativity: 3; Thoughtfulness: 3 Following up on my unexpectedly popular Green = Energy Efficient? here’s a good, in-depth discussion about historic windows. I like it because it counters the many myths about historic windows (and by extension historic buildings) that have imbedded themselves in the American psyche and that have been exploited by window … Continue reading
New Book about North State Street, Jackson
I noticed on the Arcadia Publishing webpage that a new Images of America book is coming out later this month focusing on North State Street in Jackson. Its author is Todd Sanders, an architectural historian with the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History and the teacher of the architectural history class at Millsaps I posted about … Continue reading
Simpson County Courthouse, Mendenhall
Earlier this week, I was coming back to Jackson on Hwy 49 and decided to swing off the highway into Mendenhall. It was such a nice day, albeit a little on the cool side, that I wanted to take some pictures of the Simpson County Courthouse. I love this courthouse especially because it is so … Continue reading
New Ratings System Unveiled!
I’ve been berated by a reader–so much so that my lip started to quiver and I had to blink back tears–for having two posts in succession he calls “negative.” Now, let’s be clear, this reader, who I will call Theodore, is not my most faithful reader since he doesn’t have “Preservation in Mississippi” on his home page as some … Continue reading
Green = Energy Efficient?
The title of Richard Moe’s April 5th New York Times op-ed piece “This Old Wasteful House” made me wince. In fact, while reading it, I had to glance back at the name of the author several times to be sure that this really was the president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. I still wonder if he’s … Continue reading
Just to Clarify: Demolition ≠ Preservation
The Vicksburg Post has published a follow-up to its earlier story about the impending demolition of Speed Street School (1894), one of a handful of 19th century public school buildings left in the state. I posted previously on this topic a couple of weeks ago. The demolition has now begun, and to add insult to injury, it’s apparently … Continue reading
Class on Architectural History in Jackson
For those of you who missed the original post, or who had forgotten, or who haven’t checked out the handy Preservation in Mississippi calendar (surely no one could fit into all those categories at once?), the Millsaps Continuing Education class about Mississippi’s architectural history is starting this evening at 6:00. Here’s the description of the class … Continue reading
Experience Mississippi!
Waiting for me upon my return to the friendly confines of Mississippi was the brochure announcing the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s historic preservation conference Experience Mississippi! For those of you who skipped out on the Mississippi Historical Society’s conference (you know who you are!), this will be yet another opportunity to spend a little time in … Continue reading
Red Hot Truck Stop, Meridian
In Friday morning’s SAH session on Architecture of the Road, Ethel Goodstein-Murphree of the University of Arkansas gave an enlightening paper called “The Common Place of the Common Carrier: The American Truck Stop.” She devoted a whole section to the Red Hot Truck Stop in Meridian, whose sign is still standing last I saw, but whose … Continue reading
When Next You’re in Malibu . . .
You simply must go see the Adamson House! It’s a state park right on the beach in Malibu, California with beautifully landscaping and an amazing house with a unique story. You can only go inside Wed-Sat from 11 -3, but it’s completely worth planning your trip around to see it. I learned all about the previously-unknown-to-me … Continue reading
Fluidity in Architecture
Tonight’s plenary talk was by respected architectural historian Dell Upton, Chair of the Dept. of Art History at UCLA and author of numerous books and articles, most recently Another City: Urban Life and Urban Spaces in the New American Republic (Yale University Press, 2008). Upton’s thesis was the fluidity in architecture over time, the constant changing and … Continue reading
California or Bust
Occasionally, I am allowed–with close supervision of course and only for good behavior–out of the Great State of Mississippi. This week, I’m off to California to attend the annual meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians in Pasadena. This conference is a good time to meet real architectural historians and pretend that I am one … Continue reading
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