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.

Categories: Lost Mississippi, Waveland