Preservation in Mississippi
Architectural Research
Jackson’s Lakewood Cemetery: Mississippi AIA Founding Generation’s Final Resting Place
It took me only two trips to Jackson’s Lakewood Cemetery–way out on West Capitol after it turns into Clinton Boulevard–to figure out that a significant number of our founding generation of professional architects had been laid to rest there. Overstreet, Naef, Malvaney, Canizaro, Spain, even Lindsley, who was living in Ocean Springs when he died … Continue reading
Where Have All the Roof Signs Gone?
My little postcard collection continues to grow, although more slowly now that you can’t get even a really boring common postcard on eBay for less than three or four dollars. One thing I started to notice was the prevalence of rooftop signs announcing businesses and welcoming visitors to larger cities in the state. I’ve always … Continue reading
A Little Contest: Like a Ton of (Concrete) Bricks
So this morning we had a mini contest about a material that is on the primary facade of a building in downtown Gulfport on 28th Avenue. All the answers were pretty spot on but the answer that contained all the right buzz words was given by Brian Askew. So what makes a brick over a … Continue reading
History of Art in Mississippi: Churches (II)
Finally at long last we are at the end of the Architecture chapter in History of Art in Mississippi, published in 1929. In addition to this chapter, several other chapters concentrate on the state’s historic buildings, including two chapters on Historic Homes. As the authors note, “The Art of Mississippi before the Civil War was … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, July 1964: Amory Middle School
The July 1964 edition of Mississippi Architect skips the editorial in favor of a notice about the AIA providing a speaker’s bureau to interested groups. Then it jumps straight to its highlighted Mississippi building, Amory Middle School, designed by Jackson (and Fondren neighborhood) architects Biggs, Weir, Chandler, Neal & Chastain. I’ve heard that this was … Continue reading
Going Inside: First National Bank, Jackson
I can be pretty bold about taking pictures of historic buildings or just any building that I consider architecturally impressive, but one place I’ve never even tried to take a picture of is the inside of my bank, Trustmark Bank in downtown Jackson. Originally known as First National Bank, the building was one of several … Continue reading
Rural Studio Tour in WSJ
The Wall Street Journal’s article “Avant-Garde in Alabama” recognizes the work of Auburn’s Rural Studio in western Alabama. Samuel “Sambo” Mockbee, who founded the Rural Studio, was a Mississippian and had a practice here before Auburn drew him back to teach.
What is Rock Lath?
Have you ever seen a material attached to a wall that looked like drywall but maybe had some holes in it and possibly some plaster stuck to one side? It’s possible you never have. The material is called Rock Lath and much like our past MissPres Architectural Word of the Week “Grounds,” if it does it … Continue reading
Architectural Twins: Vicksburg’s Mystery Mission-Style Bungalows
I love driving in the southern neighborhoods of Vicksburg, along Cherry and Drummond streets especially. The early twentieth century houses are stunning–some of the highest quality in the state in my opinion. The thing about driving a neighborhood instead of walking it is that you often miss houses on one side of the street because … Continue reading
Greyhound Bus Terminal, Clarksdale
The Greyhound Bus Terminal in Clarksdale was nominated from the Delta region for the “101 Places in MIssissippi to see before you die” list. It garnered only 3% of the Delta region vote, thus ensuring its place in the “Not on the 101 places” list, but still worthy of attention. Mississippi Department of Archives and … Continue reading
Mississippi Unbuilt: 1897 New Capitol
Back in the 1890s, as we’ve shown in articles and other comments from the period, Mississippi’s capitol, now known as the Old Capitol, was in serious disrepair and considered structurally unsound. Senators dithered about whether to vacate the building for fear the roof might fall in on them. Into the breach stepped architects from all … Continue reading
Stepping on Meridian in Itta Bena
Maybe you remember the post from last year, “Stepping on Jackson, MS in NOLA” where I showed evidence of Jackson’s Harper Foundry in New Orleans in the form of utility covers on the sidewalk. I’ve continued to make a habit of looking down while walking around urbanized areas, most recently at Mississippi Valley State University … Continue reading
Abandoned Mississippi: Vicksburg’s Mercy Hospital
Standing on a two-block parcel on a high hill overlooking Grove Street, the old Mercy Hospital’s blue tile front wall still beckons drivers off of the busy Clay Street thoroughfare. But the massive building is no longer a hive of activity, instead walled off from the community it once served by a high fence with … Continue reading
Before and After: Meridian’s Merrehope
Most of us know of Meridian’s National Register-listed museum house Merrehope. Today’s Before and After is actually an After and Before, showing what Merrehope looked like in the 1880s and before the major renovation and additions of the turn of the 20th century. According to the National Register nomination and the Merrehope website, this 1880s … Continue reading
Yazoo City’s Delta National Bank and Its Place in American Architectural History
A while back I stumbled onto a website called “Defining Downtown at Mid-Century: The Architecture of the Bank Building & Equipment Corporation of America.” A part of the Recent Past Network, the site aims to bring attention to the thousands of bank buildings constructed in downtowns around the country by the Bank Building & Equipment … Continue reading
Scooba-Doobie-Doo. Which house are you?
Some time in the late 1870′s Scooba, Mississippi lawyer J.A. Minniece needed to build a small house for a laborer on his estate. Minniece sent off for mail order plans to the Bridgeport, Connecticut based firm of Palliser, Palliser & Company, Architects. The firm’s principal partners were brothers George (1849-1903) and Charles (1854-post 1908). George … Continue reading
Architect Harry North Austin: Never a Half-Way Man
A while ago, I ran a post in the Pictures Series about Jackson architect Harry North Austin. Thanks to a beautiful photograph preserved and passed down through one of his daughters and shared with us by granddaughter Olis Billings, we were able to catch a glimpse of the man behind buildings such as Ole Miss’ … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, June 1964: Gilfoy School of Nursing
The featured building in Mississippi Architect’s June 1964 issue was the Gilfoy Nursing School at Baptist Hospital in Jackson. In last week’s post about the endangered Rexall Drug Store on North State Street across from Baptist, I noted that the Overstreet firm, which designed the drug store, also designed a number of buildings and additions … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, June 1964: Who’s Building Is It?
In the June 1964 issue of the Mississippi Architect, editor Edward F. Neal picks up a similar theme to his editorial of May 1964, “The Language Barrier,” noting the disconnect between architects and their clients. In this issue, he re-prints a letter to the editor from a frustrated client whose architects wouldn’t build the colonial … Continue reading
Hints of Segregation Past
Long long ago, in a galaxy far far away I wrote a post about the layers of history we can see in our architecture by looking at the backs and sides of buildings. That post ”Where History Meets Architecture” was about the old covered stairway on the back facade of the old Paramount Theater in Clarksdale, … Continue reading
Molitor’s Mississippi: February 11, 1954
This week we are following Architectural Photographer Joseph Molitor on the 58th anniversary of his 1954 trip. Today is the last day of our three-blog-postings trip through Mississippi with Mr. Molitor. According to Columbia University’s Avery Library Archive, by Thursday February 11, 1954 he had just six buildings left to photograph in Jackson. Over a … Continue reading
Molitor’s Mississippi: February 8-10, 1954
This week we are following Architectural Photographer Joseph Molitor on the 58th anniversary of his 1954 trip to Mississippi. Molitor’s collection of photos, now at the Columbia University Avery Library in New York, forms an important documentary of what the architectural profession thought were the most important buildings of the post-World War II period. Picking … Continue reading
Molitor’s Mississippi: February 3, 1954
You may remember about this time last year, how we followed the 1952 footsteps of architectural photographer Joseph Molitor on the 59th anniversary of his first professional trip through Mississippi. As a reminder, here’s a little background about Molitor from the first MissPres post about him: Originally trained as an architect, Molitor’s career as a photographer … Continue reading
MissPres Architectural Word of the Week: Corbel
This is our third MissPres Architectural Word of the Week. If you missed any of the earlier posts, this series was spawned by Malvaney’s post about architectural dictionaries. Our past two words have been Abacus and Bracket. Have you been keeping an eye out for either element or trying to slip the words into everyday … Continue reading
MissPres Architectural Word of the Week: Bracket
This is our second MissPres Architectural Word of the Week. If you missed out on our first post, this series was spawned by Malvaney’s post about architectural dictionaries. I thought it would be fun to have a bi-weekly post that features a different architectural word that relates to a building here in Mississippi. I hope … Continue reading
Abandoned Mississippi: Port Gibson Oil Works
The abandoned plant of the Mississippi Cotton Oil Company wasn’t on the recent Port Gibson Holiday Home Tour, but as I was wandering about before the tours started, I was drawn to the place, just north of downtown, like a moth to the flame. I’ve always been intrigued by cotton seed oil mills–the strange shapes … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, May 1964: Gulde Methodist Church
A simple Modern rural church was the featured Mississippi building in the May 1964 issue of the Mississippi Architect. ——————————————————————– GULDE METHODIST CHURCH Rankin County, Miss. CLEMMER & CLARK, A.I.A. Architects Jackson, Miss. R.D. MOON Contractor Pelahatchie, Miss. THIS rural church serves a congregation of less than one hundred and is located near the town … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, May 1964: Speaking Architects’ Language
In his editorial for May 1964, Mississippi Architect editor and Jackson architect Edward F. Neal notes the language barrier between architects and clients. This is and probably always will be a problem with any kind of specialized field, and like doctors, some architects are better than others at translating their language into ours. Since this … Continue reading
Going Inside: St. Joseph Catholic Church and its Blue Glow
It’s a nice coincidence that in the same week as an update on Jackson’s First Christian Church we should look at the interior of Port Gibson’s St. Joseph Catholic Church. Built almost exactly 100 years apart, these two buildings might be supposed to have nothing in common. In fact, they share one characteristic, besides their Gothic … Continue reading
Martin Luther King, Jr. in Philadelphia, Miss.
From the Downtown Philadelphia Historic District nomination, recounting the civil rights march led by Martin Luther King, Jr., in Philadelphia. Held on June 21, 1966, the march from Independence Quarters, a large black neighborhood west of the railroad, to the courthouse was meant to bring attention to the Schwerner, Chaney & Goodman murders: King began … Continue reading
First Ever MissPres Architectural Word of the Week: Abacus
How many times have you looked at a building and said “What is that thing called? The one thingy above the dew-dad, next to the whats it.” Well if you’re me the answer is a lot! So after reading Malvaney’s post on architectural dictionaries, I thought it would be fun to have a bi-weekly post … Continue reading
When You Absolutely Positively Have to Know What’s a Volute?
Recently I took a second look at the sizable number of architectural dictionaries sitting on my shelves, most within easy reach arm’s length of my computer desk. While it may seem that I know just the right architectural term for every minuscule part of a building, in fact, I regularly pull my architectural mumbo-jumbo out … Continue reading
Round the Blogosphere 1-8-2012
As I was writing the date, I realized that if you add 8 and 12 you get 20, so I wanted to be sure to share that little bit of math nerdery with you this lovely Monday morning. JRGordon searched and searched for news this week, but apparently after the splurge of Christmas-week news, everyone … Continue reading
Going Inside: Port Gibson’s First Presbyterian
We’ve all heard about the Hand Pointing To Heaven that tops the steeple of Port Gibson’s First Presbyterian Church and most of have probably seen it while driving down Church Street, but the interior of the church is worth looking at too. I had a chance to get inside for the first time last month … Continue reading
Architects of Mississippi: William Stanton
Maybe you remember the post “From Charleston to Vicksburg With Love” from a while back about the connection between Vicksburg and Charleston, SC, namely the architect of Vicksburg’s Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity started his career in Charleston, with a number of high-quality churches and other commissions there. In that post, I mentioned the … Continue reading
National Register 2011–Historic Districts
As you know, National Register listings can be either individual places, as shown in yesterday’s post, or larger groupings of buildings known as historic districts. Historic districts can be as small as a handful of houses in a rural community or as large as a dense urban neighborhood (as dense and as urban as Mississippi … Continue reading
National Register 2011–Individual Listings
As in previous years, we’re breaking our National Register of Historic Places listings for 2011 into two separate posts to avoid piling on and to allow you time to read through the summaries and ponder. Some of these listings have been covered in various News Roundups throughout the year, but I always like to have … Continue reading
Auld Lang Syne: Friends We Lost in 2011
As is traditional in this quiet week after Christmas and before New Years, we look back at the year and recount our wins and losses. We usually start with the “sad list” of buildings who lost their battle against time in 2011. This year’s losses seem pretty significant to me, with a number of recognized … Continue reading
A Few of JRGordon’s Favorite Things
Before taking us through the annual “Year in Review” posts, Malvaney asked some of us regular contributors about our favorite posts of the year. One of my favorites was the Friday Malvaney did the “Where Have All The Buzzards Gone?” post back in September. It had been a pretty typical MissPres week post-wise: the news … Continue reading
A Few of Thomas Rosell’s Favorite Things
This Christmas week, the MissPres authors are pulling out some of their favorite posts and re-packaging them with our comments about why they’re our favorites. One of my all time favorite posts is the series regarding the book How Buildings Learn by Stewart Brand. The series has a lot to like, both good subject matter … Continue reading
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