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Overly Loved Historic Buildings

Welcome back from Thanksgiving–I trust ya’ll are fat and happy and ready to jump right into the Christmas season with good cheer. Personally, I find that I am always full of good cheer, so Christmas is no change for me. During the week off–and thanks for the vacation time, ya’ll–I had a chance to go through … Continue reading »

Happy Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving time again–time to enumerate just a few of things that make us thankful. So without further ado . . . I’m thankful for the Delta, the Piney Woods, the Hills, and yes, even those crazy Natchezians who add spice to our lives. I’m thankful for Columbus, Clarksdale, and Carrollton. For Pass Christian and … Continue reading »

MissPres News Roundup 11-20-2009

Well, here we are at Friday again–thank goodness! And next week is Thanksgiving, so it’s a short week for some, a long week for those with visitors staying in their homes. But I digress. Let’s look around for some news. First of all, I see that MHT’s Facebook page now has over 225 fans–I’m sure … Continue reading »

The Edgewater Gulf Hotel, Queen of the Coast

If one hotel alone were to capture the spirit and grandeur of the faded elegance of the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the Edgewater Gulf would likely be the candidate for the honor. On February 26, 1926, ground was broken for the 400 bedroom hotel, quite the largest on the Coast.  Designed by the Chicago architectural firm … Continue reading »

Checking in on New Orleans

The Atlantic Monthly has an interesting article about the architectural developments in the rebuilding of New Orleans, “Houses of the Future” by Wayne Curtis. Given the virtual absence of concentrated federal, state, or city re-development (except for wholesale demolition), a variety of private groups, including Brad Pitt’s Make It Right and Global Green, have begun rebuilding in … Continue reading »

What Jackson’s Trustmark Bldg Might Have Looked Like

I love alternate history, where an author changes a small event in history and takes what follows to a different conclusion than what actually happened. Preliminary renderings of buildings are a real-live version of alternate history, and it’s fun, in a nerdy way, to notice what was changed from the early version and wonder why … Continue reading »

Architecture and Music

Friday evening I attended a chamber concert by the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra at St. Andrews Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Jackson. I especially love the MSO’s chamber series, because each of the four concerts is held in a church, not only a more intimate venue than Thalia Mara Hall (which I do enjoy but which couldn’t be … Continue reading »

MissPres News Roundup 11-13-2009

Ok, the pressure’s on. Must compete with MHT’s Facebook page. Must compete with MHT’s Facebook page. Must be witty and not grumpy, a beam of sunshine in an otherwise dark and cruel world. And I can do it! Because I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!! Today’s MissPres News Roundup is … Continue reading »

MHT Joins Facebook

As of two weeks ago, the Mississippi Heritage Trust has a page on Facebook and already has 62 fans. The page is viewable by both Facebookers and non-Facebookers alike, so you have no reason not to check it out. It looks like they’re doing a better job than I am of keeping up with newspaper … Continue reading »

Honoring Veterans

Hinds County Armory Shamefully Neglected

Those of you who have visited the Mississippi State Fair might have noticed an exotic brick building with gothic arches off to the side near High Street in Jackson. This is the old Hinds County Armory, built in 1927 and designed by Jackson architect Frank P. Gates, one of the founders of the Mississippi chapter … Continue reading »

Pics of Goff’s Gryder House in Ocean Springs

Last week when looking around for a picture of the Gryder House in Ocean Springs to put in “Notes on SESAH Keynote” I realized I didn’t have any myself, and I just didn’t feel that those on the internet showed the true amazingness of the house. So, courtesy of MDAH, I have acquired a few … Continue reading »

MissPres News Roundup 11-6-2009

Well, there’s a thick stack of papers piled up waiting for me to get around to a news roundup post after two weeks of skipping it. So without further ado, here goes: To me, the most exciting article of the last two weeks was the one in the Sun-Herald about the restoration of the stained-glass windows at … Continue reading »

Who are these people and why are they staring at me??

Last week when SESAH was meeting in the War Memorial auditorium, a lady asked me if I knew who the faces were that formed the capitals of the four columns in front. I had to admit that in fact I had never really looked very hard at the faces and hadn’t realized they were different … Continue reading »

SESAH’s Bus Tour: Beyond Greek Revival

Ok, I promised to post a few pictures from SESAH’s Saturday bus tour of Jackson, called “Beyond Greek Revival.” The weather did a wonderful about-face overnight from the rainy dreariness of Friday to a brilliant sunshiny Saturday, and it was a great day for touring. True to promise, we saw only non-Greek Revival buildings, except … Continue reading »

Notes on SESAH’s Keynote

Friday evening’s SESAH keynote lecture was co-hosted by MSU’s College of Architecture, Art + Design (CAAD), and I was glad to see a number of local architects in the crowd, along with a few young people who I presume were students at the 5th-year program just down the street. The night was cold and rainy, but … Continue reading »

Notes from SESAH

Well, the SESAH conference is over as of Saturday’s bus tour of Jackson’s historic sites. I’m sure all of you were able to attend and listen to interesting papers and the thoughtful keynote lecture. If you weren’t though, rest assured your faithful correspondent attended several Mississippi-related papers and took copious notes for the MissPres readership. … Continue reading »