To follow up on yesterday’s post regarding Architectural Photographer Joseph W. Molitor, this week is the 59th anniversary of Joseph Molitor’s first trip to Mississippi and what better way to celebrate than to share the buildings he photographed? According to the Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library at Columbia University, which has an extensive collection of Molitor’s work, five of the thirty commissions Molitor had in 1952 were in Mississippi. This first trip to the State was in March and April.
Molitor left Columbia, South Carolina, having photographed a residence there on March 11th, 1952. His first stop in Mississippi was the Town of Stonewall and on March 15th, 1952 he photographed the Stonewall High School (c. 1951) designed by Meridian architect Bill Archer.
Stonewall High School built c. 1951 Bill Archer, Architect. Photograph Courtesy MDAH
He next traveled to Jackson to photograph three buildings for N. W. Overstreet & Associates. On March 16th, 1952 the Princess Slipper Shop (c. 1947) at 224 E. Capitol Street was photographed. While a building still stands on this site Robert K. Overstreet remarked in a letter he wrote to MDAH on May 15th, 1999 that the shop was no longer standing. On March 17th, 1952 the Patterson Drug Store (c. 1950), still standing at (demolished by Baptist Medical Center April, 2012) 1020 N. State Street, was the focus of Molitor’s camera lens. The Abstract Office Building (c. ?-Demolished, 1969) was listed as being photographed on March 19th, 1952. I have yet to find anything on the Abstract Office Building. Has anyone ever heard of this building?
Patterson-Bradford Rexall Drug Store built c. 1950 N.W. Overstreet & Associates, Architects
He then took a quick trip to photograph a New Orleans weekend residence designed by New Orleans architects Curtis & Davis on March 28th, 1952.
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- Floor Plan, New Orleans Weekend Residence of Dr. and Mrs. Morris Shushan. Curtis & Davis, Architects
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- Interior, New Orleans Weekend Residence of Dr. and Mrs. Morris Shushan. Curtis & Davis, Architects. Photo Attributed to Joseph Molitor.
Molitor finalized his trip through the South & Mississippi with a stop in Natchez on April 3, 1952 to photograph the James T. Canizaro-designed Natchez Auditorium. I am unfamiliar with this building. Any MissPres readers out there know what building this might be?
It’s likely that viewing the Molitor Collection at Columbia University’s Avery Library would answer some of these questions. As I dig deeper and learn more I’ll be sure to share it. If you have a memory of any of these buildings please share! If you pass by any of these buildings this week stop and take a photograph as a salute to Joseph Molitor!
Molitor’s next trip to Mississippi was in 1954, primarily for an article about the architecture scene in Jackson that appeared in the September 1954 issue of Architectural Record–more about that in another post.
Categories: Architectural Research, Historic Preservation, Jackson, Modernism, Natchez, Recent Past
The “Natchez Auditorium” makes me think of City Auditorium, but I’d thought that that building was much older. Could it have been renovations to the building? Given its neo-classical style, I wouldn’t think they would have been interested in the building, so perhaps the auditorium referenced might have been at one of the schools. I can’t, however, immediately think of a mid-century school in Natchez, or at least of any which survive to day.
In a 1953 AIA Questionnaire Canizaro lists the Cathedral High School of Natchez as a project completed in ’51-’52. I think this building may have been the “Natchez Auditorium” Molitor photographed.
http://communities.aia.org/sites/hdoaa/wiki/AIA%20scans/Rosters/CanizaroJamesT_roster.pdf
The City Auditorium was really the only “Auditorium” building I could think of also but it was designed in 1937 by Richard Koch and you’re right it doesn’t fit the bill. The other building that I thought of was the McLaurin Elementary School which might have been under construction in early 1952. But that building was designed by E. L. Malvaney and B.W. Martin, not James Carizano
The City Auditorium is the only building that rings a bell, but I agree doesn’t seem to fit the bill for the modernist works Molitor seemed to be focusing on. I wonder if the Canizaro firm would be able to shed some light on this?
That Stonewall school building is a favorite of mine and is still in use as the Stonewall City Hall. I believe it’s a Mississippi Landmark.
I’m betting that the Abstract Office Building is the Mississippi Valley Title Insurance building behind the police station in downtown Jackson. If it’s not that very same building (which is possibly newer) then it is an older building for that business as abstract in this context likely refers to an abstract of title which “lists all the owners of a piece of land, a house, or a building before it came into possession of the present owner.”
According to the Downtown Jackson Partners website and a recent article from the Jackson Free Press, this building at 315 Tombigbee Street is currently for sale.
Yes there is a strong possibility it was built for a title company. The building at 315 Tombigbee is a little late (it looks late 60′s early 70′s) and the lot still has occupied houses on it on the 1962 Sanborn maps. Do you know where MS Valley Title Ins was located in the early 1950′s?
According to the Jackson city directories for 1952-53 & 1954, Miss. Valley Title did not yet exist. There were two abstract of title companies, or abstractors:
Abstract Title & Guaranty Co 349 S Congress
and
Lester & Witcher Abstract Co 100 E Pearl R209.
349 S Congress is now the side of the police station and, if you’ve been to Pearl St. in Jackson lately, you know what it looks like, including 100.
That’s a great resource at Columbia; thanks for the information!
Abstract Title & Guaranty Company sounds good! 349 S. Congress did not exist during 1948 according to the Sanborn maps. But a building is shown there in the 1962 map that might fit the bill. This building would have come down when the Police Station Addition was built in 1969.
I’m sure looking at these photos would clear a lot of this up… or open up a whole new level of questions. I hope someone (maybe MDAH) with more pull than I, could get some high quality scans of Molitor images from Columbia to have archived here in state.
Glad to share the information!
here is an image of the rear of the building
As it turns out, Miss. Valley and Abstract Title & Guaranty were one and the same company. I’ve found a tiny rendering of the Overstreet building that I will remit to Malvaney forthwith.
I found many Molitor photographs in my basement. Who should I speak to about this?
Lucky You! Who to speak with might be dependent on the subject matter of the images. If there are any images that might be Mississippi related I would contact Jennifer Baughn, (jbaughn@mdah.state.ms.us) She is the Chief Architectural Historian for the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History. If the images are of things not associates with Mississippi you might try contacting the Avery Library at Columbia University. The have the large Molitor collection I reference in the article. http://library.columbia.edu/indiv/avery.html