Preservation in Mississippi
Modernism
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
MissPres Architectural Word of the Week: Hyperbolic Paraboloid Shell
With this week’s word we will be launching from Hancock County’s Stennis Space Center to some out of this world shapes! While our word is really a three-word phrase, it is the best way to describe some of our State’s funky and wacky roof shapes from the 1960′s. Our examples are located on the Gulf … 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
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
Architects of Mississippi: Clair Maurice Jones
You may recall Mark Davis’ guest posts last month about Meridian architect P.J. Krouse, re-printed from the original publication in the Pearl River County Historical Society newsletter, The Historical Reporter. This month, Mark has outdone himself, introducing us to Clair Maurice Jones, who was based in Memphis but designed a number of churches in Mississippi, among other buildings both … Continue reading
Going Inside: St. Dominic’s Chapel
A while back, reader Gary E. Magee commented on an old post about Jackson architect Tom Biggs that one of Bigg’s designs, the chapel at St. Dominic hospital, is slated for demolition in a planned expansion of the adjacent emergency area. This reminded me that I had taken some pictures of the building earlier this year … Continue reading
Mid-Century Modernism in Downtown Vicksburg
Since yesterday’s first post was about the Vicksburg Poll Results and since the next two days’ posts are about concrete block in Vicksburg, I figured why not just make a week of Vicksburg? Back in the Spring when it was relatively cool and I was over in Vicksburg to tour a few of the houses … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, Feb 1964: Gulf Towers, Biloxi
Gulf Towers, a high-rise apartment building in Biloxi, was the featured Mississippi building in the February 1964 issue of Mississippi Architect. It might be hard to remember now, but back in 1964, before Camille and of course before Katrina, the Gulf Coast boasted long stretches of historic and architecturally significant houses on large beachfront estates. … Continue reading
Destroying Modern Architecture?!
The Blog of the Preservation Research Office has an interesting post entitled “Destroying Modern Architecture in St. Louis” regarding the St. Louis Pruitt Igoe Housing Project among other St. Louis modern architecture icons. The post discusses some of the issues that we touched on in the comments section of our MissPres post “Oxford Film Festival … Continue reading
Fins to the left, Fins to the right . . .
Our across-the-River friend Blake Wintory from Lakeport Plantation sent me this screenshot of Jackson’s Petroleum Building as seen in the recent PBS American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders.” This was in response to the last paragraph in my post on the too-early demolition of the Trailways Station, in which I said: Speaking of Modernism and old … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, January 1964: Hattiesburg Clinic
Mississippi Architect’s January 1964 featured Mississippi building introduces us to a Hattiesburg architect we’ve mentioned only in passing here on MissPres, Stephen H. Blair (1926-1993). I don’t know much about Blair, but USM’s archives contains a collection of his drawings, and they have this to say about him on their website: During his career, Blair … Continue reading
Architectural Twins: One Happy, One Glowering
Tuesday’s post about the Trailways station and the former Petroleum building across that street that’s been transformed into what some have called a Darth Vader Building reminded me of a similar but smaller scale transformation to a building here in Jackson. For most of my 15 years in Jackson, these two Fabric Care Cleaners, one … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, December 1963: Neshoba General Hospital
Today and tomorrow, we’ll look at a couple of articles from the December 1963 issue of Mississippi Architect, a monthly publication undertaken by the Mississippi chapter of the AIA from March 1963 through March 1965. If you recall, the posting of the November’s article about the Fred Larue House in Jackson spurred quite a bit … Continue reading
Photographer Joseph Molitor’s 1952 Trip to Mississippi
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 … Continue reading
Architectural Photographer Joseph W. Molitor 1907-1996
While reading Malvaney’s post regarding the Lyle Cashion Company building, one of the names mentioned in the article rang a bell: “Photos by Joseph W. Moliter.” Even though misspelled “Moliter” in the original article (it was in the original article so its totally not Malvaney’s fault), Molitor is a name that is highly recognizable in … Continue reading
Tips on choosing an architect, and Eero Saarinen on the purpose of architecture
In the October 1963 issue of Mississippi Architect, Bob Henry’s editorial gives some helpful tips about choosing an architect that are still relevant today. Also worthy of note in this issue is a short clip from Eero Saarinen‘s December 1959 speech to Dickinson College in which he expounds his view of the role and purpose … Continue reading
Oxford Film Festival & Pruitt Igoe
The Oxford Film Festival is this weekend! A lot of the films look great though one that stands out is The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History. Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project was a St. Louis high-rise urban housing complex completed in the mid-1950′s. It was named for St. Louisans Wendell O. Pruitt, a Tuskegee Airman, and William … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, Sept 1963: Calvary Baptist Church, Meridian
The featured article in Mississippi Architect’s September 1963 issue is Calvary Baptist Church in Meridian. Calvary is still going strong it appears, and you can see a color picture of the interior and those long thin stained glass windows on their website. As always, you can see the original article in its original setting through … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, “Engineers and Architecture”
It’s been a while since we posted another volume of the Mississippi Architect, originally published from March 1963 through March 1965. Each volume contains a brief editorial, usually from Jackson architect Bob Henry, an article about a recent Mississippi building by a Mississippi architect, and then several stock articles about national trends or other buildings … Continue reading
Mississippi Architect, August 1963
Today’s reprint of the editorial from Mississippi Architect’s August 1963 edition is especially interesting to me given some of the recent debates here on MissPres pitting Classicism against Modernism. As the tides of architectural styles rise and fall, many today would call the buildings of the 1960s ugly, not beautiful, but Bob Henry’s editorial highlights … Continue reading
Round the Blogosphere 11-15-2010
I gave jrgordon the day off on the weekly news roundup because I realized it’s been two months since our last blogosphere roundup. I’ve been starring posts like mad in my Google Reader, and if I don’t post them for y’all to see soon, the list will be too overwhelming, both for you and for … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 11-8-2010
No big intro this week – let’s jump right into the news: The weekly papers covering Waynesboro and Water Valley have recently published stories about how each community is looking at establishing National Register Districts. The meetings local officials have had in recent weeks with MDAH staff have been to talk about the National Register … Continue reading
Funky Light Fixtures
I suspect I’m not the only MissPreser who enjoys the occasional Rejuvenation catalog that comes in the mail. I like to flip through it and try to imagine my simple little Minimal Traditional house with any of these lush reproductions from America’s many eras of architectural styles. But I’ve always thought the various “eras” they … Continue reading
Modernism in the Mississippi Delta
One thing that surprised me when I moved to Mississippi and ventured into the Delta–a place that I had understood from various news stories was a place that time forgot–was how much the region had changed over the latter half of the 20th century. Historic pictures show dirt roads lined with tenant shacks and workers … Continue reading
Three Round Banks
When I was in Meridian looking at the old Sears building last week, I discovered for the first time (although I’ve driven past them numerous times) two mid-century banks \ in the same area. They reminded me of a former bank in my own Fondren neighborhood in Jackson that is not only round but, in … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 10-3-2010
I think it’s evidence of a long hot summer when 62 degrees feels like winter, but that’s where I am right now. On to the news . . . ——————————— It seems the on-going maintenance and renovation of the New Capitol in Jackson has some legislators expressing impatience. Imagine that! According to the Clarion-Ledger’s story … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 9-20-2010
Could the horrible summer weather we’ve been having be a punishment of some kind, maybe for the demolition of the Central Delta Academy, or since it started before that, the project at the Naval Reserve Center? Or am I reading too much into it? At any rate, W. White has convinced me that Monday works … Continue reading
Round the Blogosphere 9-17-2010
Since we had a News Roundup on Monday, courtesy of W. White, today we’ll take a look around the blogosphere and news from the wider world. One of my favorite blog series to come along in a while is Marty Kittrell’s “Sermons of Hwy 27″ series last week. Check out all the posts beginning with … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 9-4-2010
Since preservation is of course not limited to Mississippi and there is a number of national (or at least non-Mississippi) news articles that have piqued my interest, this is a special edition of the MissPres News Roundup. And here is the news. The first comes from al.com, specifically from The Birmingham News (thank you Mitchell Memorial Library for … Continue reading
Claude H. Lindsley alive and well… in 1968
In a previous post there had been some discussion of what happened to Claude Lindsley, Jackson architect of the Art Deco Standard Life Building (among many other landmarks), later on in his life. He moved from Houston, Texas some time in the 1950′s to Ocean Springs, Mississippi where he potentially might have planned to eventually retire. By then most … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 8-30-2010
This News Roundup will cover some new news and some of the older news that I could not fit into the last Roundup. And here is the news. Let’s start this News Roundup with news from Starkville, an area that is largely ignored by Preservation in Mississippi because the area usually ignores its architectural heritage. … Continue reading
MissPres Blog Roundup 8-27-2010
Time for another look around at the blogosphere: Imagine my surprise to see a post titled “Mississippi Gulf Coast Architecture” on the Preservation in Pink blog, which is normally focused more on North Carolina and now New England. The post is written by guest blogger Janice Medina, who has recently moved to Biloxi and teaches … Continue reading
MissPres News Roundup 8-23-2010
This is a supplemental News Roundup to Malvaney’s Friday post and my first News Roundup since late April. This post is simply to cover the stories that have fallen through the cracks the past few weeks/months. And here is the news. It appears that, although I hope I am not saying this prematurely, the Gulfport … Continue reading
A Lustron House in Clarksdale and Sambo Mockbee all in one post?
A couple months ago, as you recall, we highlighted the one Lustron house left in Jackson (out of originally three), and I made passing mention to the only other known Lustron house in the state up in Clarksdale. Well, lo and behold, Susan Allen, she of Suzassippi’s Lottabusha County Chronicles (which really cannot be said … Continue reading
Blog Roundup 7-26-2010
I think the blog roundup will become a regular feature, not every week but enough to start designating it with a date like the news roundups. I hope these links help pull together lots of good blog posts you might find interesting and broaden all of our horizons a bit. As you might recall from … Continue reading
Unsheathing the Past…The Checkered History of the Walthall Hotel
Jackson’s Walthall Hotel opened its doors in the spring of 1928. Named for Confederate General Edward Cary Walthall, the hotel opened as an eight story building on Jackson’s bustling Capitol Street, just a few steps away from the Governor’s Mansion. Jackson architect N.W. Overstreet was assigned the daunting task of building a modern hotel above … Continue reading
Now-angry buildings were once carefree mid-century moderns
Yesterday’s picture of the former Petroleum Building in Jackson brought out the inner-Modernists in all of us, a fun jaunt back to a time when colorful buildings were considered not only fashionable but suitable for the headquarters of an oil and gas company. Unfortunately (or fortunately, if you hate color), those of you who live … Continue reading
Building in Disguise
Tons of MissPres brownie points to whoever can identify this building in downtown Jackson. Hint: It’s very well disguised.
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