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 just got tired and didn’t do anything. So I thought today might be a good time to grab a few of the links that I’ve marked in my Google Reader over the last several months and throw them out there in case one or more might interest you as well.

First off, if you’re like me, you might have gotten a LEGO Architecture model under your Christmas tree. Last year I got the Fallingwater model, and yesterday I started on my new Farnsworth House model. The one I really want is the new Robie House, which has fives times as many pieces as the Farnsworth model and costs $200. I’ll probably just have to save my pennies and pony up for that one. Anyway, the Chicago Times’ Cityscape blog ran a great story about Adam Reed Tucker, the man who created the entire LEGO Architecture concept and who designs each one that comes out. Check it out at “The Very Model of a (LEGO) architect.”

If you’re in New Orleans sometime this year, try to swing by Tulane’s Southeastern Architectural Archive, where the exhibit “Following Wright” will be showing January 17 – December 7, 2012.

From Frank Lloyd Wright’s earliest appearances in American and German architectural publications to his mid-century speaking engagement at the New Orleans International House,  this exhibit traces his influence on architects working in southeastern Louisiana.

Thanks to a reader for sending me this link to before and after photos of Jefferson County’s Laurietta Plantation, a Federal-style country house built in the 1820s but more recently going to rack and ruin. Saved at almost the last minute by new owners Mac and Tere Thomas, the repair and renovation project won a Heritage Award of Excellence for Restoration and Rehabilitation from the Mississippi Heritage Trust in 2010, the highest level award for restoration and rehabilitation of historic structures in the state. These pictures (images 5 through 13 in the slideshow) appear in Country Living magazine, and you may have to skip an ad or two to see them.

Alan Huffman follows up on the recent developments at Prospect Hill in his excellent “Letter from Mississippi” on his blog.

MDAH’s Sense of Place blog announced that the Patterson Slide Collection is now available online. This set of slides was taken in the aftermath of Jackson Candlestick Park tornado (1966) and Hurricane Camille.

On the Southerly Flow blog, Stanton Hall in Natchez was the topic of an October post. In a comment to last week’s William Stanton post, Tom Barnes wondered if our William Stanton was related to the Stantons of Stanton Hall, since William was from Natchez. I’m still working on that one, but preliminary results indicate that while they were from the same country, Ireland, it’s not clear that they were otherwise related.

I think I’ve mentioned it before, but on Suzassippi’s Lottabusha County Chronicles Suzassippi has been running occasional posts on the historic buildings on the Ole Miss campus, where she teaches, and Mound Bayou. Check them out if you’ve missed them:

• Old Chemistry and Pharmacy Building
• George Peabody Building
• On Remodeling Buildings and Loss of Access
• Memphis, Tennessee, Iron Works

And over on Urban Decay, in addition to fascinating and visually stunning posts about his global travel to exotic locales, kodachromeguy (a name that is becoming increasingly sad to me given the recent fall of Kodak) has been documenting his hometown of Vicksburg and environs:

• Levee Street Railroad Warehouse Demolition
• Abandoned Machine Shop, Levee Street
• Scott Field, Tallulah, Louisiana

I’m sure I’ve missed something really relevant and interesting. If so, be sure to post it in the comments below so we can all catch it! Happy reading, y’all!

Categories: Architectural Research