I don’t know as much about today’s Lost Mississippi subject as I usually try to when posting. But an archivist friend of mine (always make friends with the archivists) sent me a copy of this International-style house in Waveland from the Progressive Architecture magazine, and I just had to let y’all see it. The article is in the January 1956 issue of PA on page 84 (v.37, no. 1) and is in a section titled “award citations.”
I assume, but don’t know for sure, that this house was actually built–the text seems to indicate it was possibly still under construction. Without the original owner’s name, I can’t really trace it back, and if it did get built on the beach as planned, I suspect that Hurricane Camille washed it away in 1969, long before Katrina would have had a chance. I don’t even know anything about the architect, W.F. Calongne, Jr., except that he was probably from New Orleans, as a Google search of the name turns up a possible successor firm still practicing under the name Daniel T. Calongne & Associates.
Maybe somebody from the Gulf Coast can help us out here–does this house look familiar? If so, what is its story after this award?
Here’s the full text of the citation:
House, Waveland, Mississippi. W.F. Calongne, Jr., Architect.
A corner plot on the beach facing the Mississippi Sound is the site for this residence which will be occupied summers and over weekends throughout the year. It was the owners’ desire to keep the house as open as possible to the prevailing breezes and view. It will be one room deep, with sliding glass walls and screened outdoor porches on north and south sides. East and west walls are to be solid. For cross ventilation, all partition walls will stop one foot below the finished ceiling. For durability and ease of maintenance, flooring will be of sand-colored brick. The structural system will employ wood posts and beams , and exposed wood roof decking.
You want to contact Francine Stock at Tulane. She is the maven of architectural modernity in New Orleans, and can tell you all about W.F. Calongne if he was a New Orleans architect:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxno/
Posted by Ben Ledbetter | June 7, 2010, 8:01 amThe 1959 Bay-Waveland shows a couple of structures that could be the house. I’m sure someone with a better knowledge of Waveland could narrow the choices.
Posted by Jeff | June 7, 2010, 9:19 amI presume this is the Sanborn map for that year? I checked it out and didn’t see anything in the Waveland section that matched this building, although presumably it may have been built with a rear wing or something.
Posted by ELMalvaney | June 7, 2010, 1:20 pmWilliam Calongne was an associate of John Lawrence and George Saunders, practicing as Lawrence, Saunders and Calongne. Likewise, he was on the faculty at Tulane for decades. His students included Albert Ledner, Milton Scheuermann, Errol Barron. I’ll forward this post to the faculty and see what we can find out.
Posted by francine stock | June 7, 2010, 12:40 pmThanks for that great information! I’ll look forward to hearing back about this house or any other work the firm did in Mississippi!
Posted by ELMalvaney | June 7, 2010, 1:21 pmWouldn’t it be neat if someone could rebuild the house today! The plan might need a bit of tweaking, but it looks eminently livable.
Posted by Tom Barnes | June 7, 2010, 2:00 pmI had a wonderful phone conversation with Bill Calongne yesterday. I plan to write more about him more at http://regional-modernism.com. He said that the house in Waveland was a victim of Hurricane Camille.
Posted by Francine | June 8, 2010, 12:19 pmThanks so much for following this trail straight to the architect and getting that significant piece of information. I’ll look forward to reading more about Mr. Calongne, and I’ve added Regional Modernism to my Google Reader so I can keep up with all your great work (I actually thought I had already added it, but I’m getting absent-minded in my old age).
Posted by ELMalvaney | June 8, 2010, 12:26 pmThere’s a brief biography of the Calongne family, including both Wilford Jr. and Sr., on Ray Bellande’s Ocean Springs website: http://oceanspringsarchives.net/node/39.
Posted by Jennifer Baughn | December 1, 2010, 11:59 am