After three days and a bonus round, Belinda is still hanging on to the lead in this week’s Name This Place contest. Yesterday, I thought I would celebrate my birthday by stumping everyone in the bonus round with an old postcard view of main street in downtown Columbus, but Belinda jumped right on it and put me in my place, which was a real downer first thing in the morning. But in the regular round, the black-and-white postcard view of Stewart M. Jones School in Laurel made the whole board go quiet for three-and-a-half hours until Theodore piped up with the correct answer and W. White and Belinda added information about the architect, P.J. Krouse.
Which brings us to our current standings:
Belinda: 4 points
W. White: 3 points
Theodore: 3 points
J.R. Gordon: 2 points
Tom Barnes: 1 point
Susan Allen: 1 point
If you haven’t gotten a point yet but have some interesting information about today’s place, jump right in. Check out the rules.
And added later, to show what the building looked like before some unfortunate alterations . . .
Vicksburg City Hall postcard, c. 1910
Vicksburg City Hall, Neoclassical design, 1902. It’s in the Uptown NR District and is a MS Landmark
Posted by JRGordon | May 13, 2010, 3:06 pmBah–y’all are getting too smart for me!
Posted by ELMalvaney | May 13, 2010, 3:22 pmVicksburg City Hall
Posted by Belinda | May 13, 2010, 3:08 pmwell pooh — I didn’t click send quick enough…
The Superintendent (architect perhaps?) is listed as Arthur Ciannini.
Posted by Belinda | May 13, 2010, 3:14 pmSuch strong language, Belinda! I’ve never heard of Arthur, and as far as I know this is the only building in the state he did. He did a good job though.
Posted by ELMalvaney | May 13, 2010, 3:27 pmJames Reilly Gordon, architect. Mississippi Landmark. And the stair risers were kept low so ladies did not reveal their ankles when descending or ascending the scales.
Posted by Theodore | May 13, 2010, 3:26 pmGood job on the architect, Theodore! Wonder why J.R.Gordon didn’t remember it himself??
And that’s an excellent, albeit mythical point about the stair-risers :-)
Posted by ELMalvaney | May 13, 2010, 3:28 pmWell, I did so many buildings, it’s hard to keep track sometimes. I do recall that they presented me a trowel on the occasion of the laying of the corner stone (March 29, 1902). It’s among the artifacts in the archival collection of my work at the Alexander Architectural Archive at the University of Texas in Austin.
Posted by JRGordon | May 13, 2010, 3:39 pmNice save, JR. btw, I loved you in Dallas!
Posted by ELMalvaney | May 13, 2010, 5:56 pmThe building — while amazing and beautiful – is missing some significant original elements. The center portion with the 6 columns (between the two entrances) was originally a 2 level (beautiful and inviting) porch. The center stair from the street led into the porch. It appears to have been enclosed on both levels. (I wonder if the original back wall of the porch is intact inside?) A central dormer window was located above the center of this curving area (directly up from the 2 center columns). Statues of large winged angels were located in the center of each of the domes. The windows have been replaced giving a different feeling of scale to the building.
Posted by Belinda | May 13, 2010, 6:31 pmYou’re right, Belinda, that porch enclosure really changes the whole feel of the building–almost makes it seem heavy on the front like it might topple over. Here’s a picture of what it originally looked like with the two-tier porch and larger-paned windows. I haven’t been in the building, but I suspect the original front wall is still behind there, so hopefully someday that porch can make a big comeback. The windows will be a little harder to replicate I suspect.
Posted by ELMalvaney | May 13, 2010, 6:41 pmMalvaney, I uploaded another old postcard of the Vicksburg City Hall to the Media Library. I haven’t figured out how to post images in the comments section though.
Posted by W. White | May 13, 2010, 6:58 pmUnfortunately, you can’t, a serious deficiency in WordPress. I added it up above in the post itself, now that the secret’s out.
Posted by ELMalvaney | May 13, 2010, 8:45 pmI agree with Belinda’s assessment of the structure.
Posted by W. White | May 13, 2010, 6:47 pmGordon, courthouse architect extraordinaire, also designed the Wilkinson County Courthouse with partner Alfred Zucker. The National Register of Historic Places refers to it as “an excellent example of the Beaux Arts style and is the only such example to have been built in southwest Mississippi.” It was constructed in 1903-04.
Gordon was also in the running to design the New Mississippi Capitol.
Posted by W. White | May 13, 2010, 7:33 pmGlad you added this–I wondered if you were trying to get a point by agreeing with Belinda. :-)
There’s a very long story about Gordon and Zucker, and it apparently involves the Wilkinson County Courthouse. Zucker was accused of stealing Gordon’s design(s) and fled the country, set up a new practice in Brazil and went by the name Alfredo Zucker (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/utaaa/00007/aaa-00007.html). You really can’t make this stuff up.
Posted by ELMalvaney | May 13, 2010, 8:53 pmI miss the angels.
Posted by Theodore | May 14, 2010, 2:16 pmWhat do you s’pose happened to them?
Posted by Carunzel | May 14, 2010, 4:21 pmFlew away? More likely ended up in somebody’s yard.
Posted by ELMalvaney | May 14, 2010, 5:49 pm