In Tuesday’s action, I generously awarded Tom Little and Suzassippi two points each for correctly identifing Patterson-Bradford Rexall Drugs in the first post, despite the fact that neither actually said it was in Jackson, with ed polk douglas, Pibbb, Thomas Rosell, and ELMalvaney also receiving a point each for adding more information (though I threatened to make Pibbb’s score -1 point for coming up with the term “Goffic”). The second post was the Pinehurst Hotel in Laurel, which Victoria M Conway got for two points with ed polk douglas and ELMalvaney getting an additional point. The third post was Speed Street School in Vicksburg, one of the first losses Preservation in Mississippi reported on, which was promptly identified with dates and the architect by Carunzel for two points; Victoria M Conway and ed polk douglas also got single points. The fourth and final post of the day took a little while before it was identified by An Ordinary Person in New Haven as Rubel’s Department Store in Corinth; Carunzel was very close to identifying it but still got one point for adding historical details about it, as did donnaballard.
Even if you have not participated yet, there is still time to participate in the contest and perhaps catch the leaders. Read The Rules (such as identifying the city the building was located in and entering your answer in the comment section, not Facebook), and be the first to Name This Place.
Current Standings:
ed polk douglas: 6 points
Victoria M Conway: 5 points
ELMalvaney: 3 points
Carunzel: 3 points
sec040121: 2 points
jackdelliottjr: 2 points
Tom Little: 2 points
Suzassippi: 2 points
An Ordinary Person in New Haven: 2 points
Belinda2015: 1 point
Helen Ellis: 1 point
lisahowellphotography: 1 point
Lynn Catlette Madden: 1 point
Pibbb: 1 point
Thomas Rosell: 1 point
donnaballard: 1 point
Today’s first photo:
Categories: Contest
Preservation in Mississippi 
Oops I hadn’t mean to play, but I’ll take the point. Hopefully I didn’t take points away from anyone. Was it for the stair comment or the Keybar comment?
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The Kebyar comment, mentioning Robert Overstreet’s FoK journal.
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I might as well play now. This is the Meridian City Hall & Market, at the corner of 7th Street and 23rd Avenue.
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Built 1888-89. Gustavus Torgerson was the architect and Chas. Rubush was the builder. I don’t recall the exact year when it was demolished but probably in the 1913 fire that took the M.E. Church in the background. The current city hall was built in 1914-15 so that jives.
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Two points.
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I was nonplussed seeing my “name” and recalling that I call myself “An Ordinary Person in New Haven” on this site. But not to obscure! I do live in New Haven, and in other instances I find it better to just be known by that nod to Wallace Stevens.
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. . . this format did not let me edit (finish) my post. Which is to say that I am Ben Ledbetter. I grew up in Corinth, and came back there and practiced architecture for six years before wandering away . . .
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I list whatever people use as their user name, even if I know their real name.
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1885
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constructed in 1885— my laptop is still recovering from yesterday—- great building,sad loss. style: ‘eclectic’–ha, ha— ‘victorian’–ha, ha— some richardsonian romanesque, some queen anne, some of everything— vaguely italianate–but italianate like a market hall in italy–campanile, etc—
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lauderdale county jail and meridian federal building, both of 1907, also had italianate touches–each with a prominent tower element—
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net is interesting–i wrote my comments before mr rosell’s were entered— and, i got my date of 1885 from the net—of course, i will defer to mr rosell’s numbers—- now, a new architect to research–gustavus torgerson—sounds swedish to me! think my ‘italianate’ commments are still valid—-
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torgerson listed in various places–incl mdah directory–and, i have seen a number of his buidlings without knowing his association with them— but, a number of inconsistencies in what has been written about him–switzerland vs sweden as birthplace(i’ll vote for sweden) and the ‘fact’ that his son stated that he came to us to work as architect for new orleans cotton states expo in 1884 when he is ‘on paper’ as being in oxford in the 1860s! hm-m-m-m. architect for meridian’s grand opera house among other buildings there— skipwith house in oxford—-
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oh, his dates, 1840-1902(according to mdah files)— okay, got to get on with my day–another cold one here—and, interesting to have a new haven based former corinthian as another ‘ms ex-pat’ playing the quiz-nice to ‘meet you’, mr ledbetter—
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You have entered enough for a point. There is a rather interesting bit of information about Torgerson that I discovered in my research that I have never seen mentioned in any accounts of Torgerson’s career. I wonder whether anyone will be able to discover what that is and enter it here.
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hmm. I’m not sure what you have or have not seen, but might it be in relation to his work in Alabama? I don’t know much of anything in relation to his Alabama works, but I do know he was spending time in Biloxi the few years before his death. He was working with the Harkness family of builders and possibly been the impetus for the Harkness’ shift from builder/contractor to architects/builders. In 1900, G.M.T. had applied to be the construction superintendent for the New Capitol, a position failing health may have prevented him or excluded him from taking. Either way, that opportunity was filled by John F. Barnes, another upland Mississippi architect/builder who had been working on the coast.
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No, it has to do with Mississippi. If no one gets it, I will post it tomorrow.
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I said that I would post this fact if no one else did, and they did not.
I believe Gustavus Torgerson was the first Mississippi architect who was a member of the American Institute of Architects. He is listed in the Proceedings of the Twenty-eighth Annual Convention of the American Institute of Architects, published in 1895, as having been a member since 1887. William S. Hull was previously considered the first Mississippi architect to be a member of the AIA, joining the Western Association of Architects in 1887 (merged into the AIA in 1889), but if Torgerson joined the AIA in 1887, he would be first practicing Mississippi architect. Hull was practicing in Dallas, Texas during that period. Considering that Mississippi would not get a state chapter until 1929 and not every Mississippi architect was a member even then (William A. Stanton comes to mind), I doubt we will discover an earlier AIA member than Torgerson.
Torgerson is listed on page 218; Hull on 214: https://books.google.com/books?id=GjwBAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
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he was ingrid bergman’s great uncle—–!
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Not that I am aware of.
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Isn’t it time for a WPA building?
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I am still wondering about the information about Torgerson that you discovered.
I read a blog entry dated March 14, 2014, by Jim Woodrick, from Ridgeland MS, titled, “E.H. Dial and the Queen of the East”. Dial, who was mayor of Meridian (1893-1901), wrote a play about the history of Meridian, titled “The Queen of the East; or The March of Progress”, which was performed in the newly-built Grand Opera House (now the MSU Riley Center).
Gustavus Maurice Torgerson, the architect of the Grand Opera House, named his son Edwin Dial Torgerson (born in 1896) after the Meridian mayor. Edwin went to college in Oxford MS and became a writer. One of his books was titled, “The Murderer Returns” and opposite the title page is a floorplan of an apartment.
http://andspeakingofwhich.blogspot.com/2014/03/eh-dial-and-queen-of-east.html
http://hermes.lib.olemiss.edu/mystery/exhibit.asp?display=9§ion=2
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