Thanks to Steve Davis of CCD Architects for bringing this story from their website to our attention and for sharing these amazing photos from the CCD collection:

Jack Canizaro in his office

Canizaro Cawthon Davis has donated their founding firms’ architectural papers to Mississippi State University. Canizaro Cawthon Davis is a Jackson based architecture, planning and interior design firm and is successor to the firms James T. Canizaro Architects and Canizaro Trigiani Architects.

The archives include building design drawings and correspondence spanning the years 1938 to 1980. This collection is unique because it includes complete papers for most projects from that period of the firm’s history, including design sketches, working drawings, photographs, proposals, and correspondence with owners and contractors. It offers a fascinating window into the architectural world of Mississippi in the mid-20th century, as traditional and modern designs lived side by side.

The projects include notable Mississippi landmarks such as St. James Episcopal Church in Jackson, Armstrong Tire and Rubber plant in Natchez, Trustmark National Bank in Jackson, Biloxi City Hall, and St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Biloxi. Steve Davis, AIA, partner at Canizaro Cawthon Davis, states “We are proud of the legacy of our founding partners and the people who worked with them through the years. We are happy to allow others to explore the work they created. Mississippi State University will provide the environment to make these more readily available.” The archives will be scanned and posted in the university’s digital collections.

The Canizaro Collection joins some of Mississippi’s other preminent architectural firms housed in the Special Collections at Mississippi State University, including the large Overstreet collection. But as CCD noted in their press release, most of these other collections only contain the drawings, which are of course invaluable, but to have the correspondence and other project files is an amazing treasure trove for researchers. We will be eagerly awaiting the full catalog of drawings and project files from MSU’s Special Collections. Here is just a sampling of the buildings that Canizaro gave our state–thanks again to CCD.

Kenwood Apartments (1938), Jackson

Kenwood Apartments (1938), Jackson

Oxford City Hall (1938-1976)

Armstrong Rubber Plant (1941-1944), Natchez

Armstrong Rubber Plant (1941-44), Natchez

Harrison House (c.1950), Jackson

Jackson Municipal Court (1952)

St. Dominic’s-Jackson Memorial Hospital (1954 and later additions), Jackson

First National Bank (now Trustmark) (1956, associated with N.W. Overstreet & Assoc.), Jackson

First National Bank (now Trustmark) (1956, associated with N.W. Overstreet & Assoc.), Jackson

Biloxi Post Office and Federal Building (1959)

St. Michael’s Catholic Church (1964), Biloxi

St. Michael’s Catholic Church (1964), Biloxi

St. Michael’s Catholic Church chapel (1964), Biloxi

Greenwood Post Office and Federal Bldg (1967, assoc. with F.E. Hall)

Dorothy H. Crosby Hall (1970), University of Mississippi

You might recall that the roof of St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Biloxi is the page header for this blog, and we’ve noted many Canizaro landmarks around Mississippi in previous posts:

Mid-Week Mid-Century: Modern Banking in Downtown Jackson

Mad Mod Eastover Tour Review

A new header for MissPres.com’s 4th year

Jackson’s Lakewood Cemetery: Mississippi AIA Founding Generation’s Final Resting Place

Molitor’s Mississippi: February 11, 1954

Molitor’s Mississippi: February 8-10, 1954

Going Inside: St. Michael’s Church, Biloxi

Categories: Architectural Research, Biloxi, Greenwood, Historic Preservation, Jackson, Natchez, Oxford, Preservation People/Events

Tags: Featured