Author Archives

In addition to ruling over the MissPres universe with an iron fist, Malvaney enjoys reading, wandering around old buildings, stopping to smell the magnolias, fiddling with databases, and sitting on the porch with a good book and a big ol' dog. Non-interests include but are not limited to tweeting, texting, Instagramming, planking, Candy Crush, Donald Trump, and unecessarily destructive home renovation shows.

• How Madisonia Came to Windsor

  By ELMalvaney on April 1, 2019 • ( 13 )

  

  The fourth post in the Madisonia Trilogy tells the story of Smith Coffee Daniel’s famous Windsor Exxon, a Corinthian columned masterpiece complete with a Coffeeteria in its center court.

• HABS in Mississippi: Concord Quarters, Natchez

  By ELMalvaney on March 28, 2019 • ( 6 )

  

  Concord Quarters was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in January, and I believe this is the first individually listed slave quarters building (apart from a main house) in Mississippi. That’s fitting, since Concord, the c.1790 home of… Read More ›

• Tag Tuesday: 1820-1829

  By ELMalvaney on March 26, 2019 • ( 0 )

  

  Wherein we take a look at what was going on in the great big world of architecture in the 1820s. Rosalie (1823), Natchez, Mississippi This National Historic Landmark Federal-style house overlooks the Mississippi River on the bluff in Natchez. St…. Read More ›

• Choose Your Pilgrimage

  By ELMalvaney on March 21, 2019 • ( 1 )

  

  Spring Pilgrimage season kicked off last weekend in Natchez, with its month-long open house, and at least four other Mississippi communities are celebrating pilgrimage in the next month. For a convenient calendar view, check out the MissPres calendar, always available… Read More ›

• Vacation Postcards: Weidmann’s Restaurant, Meridian

  By ELMalvaney on March 15, 2019 • ( 6 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. More Vacation Postcards. . .

• Vacation Postcards: Beck Motel, Waynesboro

  By ELMalvaney on March 14, 2019 • ( 1 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. More Vacation Postcards. . .

• Vacation Postcards: USM Stadium, Hattiesburg

  By ELMalvaney on March 13, 2019 • ( 9 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. More Vacation Postcards. . .

• Vacation Postcards: MSU President’s Home

  By ELMalvaney on March 12, 2019 • ( 2 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. More Vacation Postcards. . .

• Vacation Postcards: Evangeline Restaurant, Pascagoula

  By ELMalvaney on March 11, 2019 • ( 2 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. More Vacation Postcards. . .

• Rare Art Work of Mississippi Volume Digitized

  By ELMalvaney on March 7, 2019 • ( 15 )

  

  Today’s post is contributed by inveterate MissPreser Ed Polk Douglas: Early in 2019, in doing some research on another topic, I was reminded of the existence of a folio- sized volume, originally issued in 9 paper folders, called Art Work of… Read More ›

• Tag Tuesday: 1810-1819

  By ELMalvaney on March 5, 2019 • ( 1 )

  

  This week’s Tag Tuesday post is brought to you by the semi-circular (or round) arch and elliptical fanlight so characteristic of the Federal style that was coming into its own in the second decade of the nineteenth century. How many… Read More ›

• Mid-Century Mississippi: University Medical School and Teaching Hospital

  By ELMalvaney on February 28, 2019 • ( 7 )

  

  Today’s article takes us back to the grand opening of what is today known as University of Mississippi Medical Center, or UMMC for short, or UMC for even shorter. This institution has become so woven into the fabric of health… Read More ›

• Seven Mississippi Places Added to National Register

  By ELMalvaney on February 27, 2019 • ( 1 )

  

  A multi-family antebellum slave dwelling in Natchez, an African American school and church, two residences, a farm, and a bus station have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

• Historic Hunt High School Damaged in Columbus Tornado

  By ELMalvaney on February 26, 2019 • ( 2 )

  

  Reports from Columbus indicate that the famous historic districts in and around downtown suffered only minor damage from the EF-3 tornado that touched down in Columbus on Saturday evening. But a video posted on Facebook shows that Hunt High School,… Read More ›

• Highways and Byways: I-55 Interchange

  By ELMalvaney on February 21, 2019 • ( 11 )

  

  When I first came across this image in the July 25, 1963 issue of the Northside Reporter (Jackson, MS), I thought it was the interchange on the southeast side of downtown Jackson, popularly known as “The Stack,” but then when… Read More ›

• Tag Tuesday: 1800-1809

  By ELMalvaney on February 19, 2019 • ( 2 )

  

  In the comments to last week’s inaugural Tag Tuesday, some hackles were raised (passive voice is so wonderful, isn’t it?) about some important early Mississippi buildings that didn’t make it into the post, specifically Texada in Natchez, built between 1798… Read More ›

• HABS in Mississippi: Jackson City Hall

  By ELMalvaney on February 14, 2019 • ( 15 )

  

  Although the 1930s HABS “Data Sheet,” which noted historical information gathered in interviews with owners and local historians, often contained information that has since been proven erroneous, in the case of Jackson’s stunning Greek Revival-style City Hall, the 1936 HABS… Read More ›

• Tag Tuesday: 1750-1799

  By ELMalvaney on February 12, 2019 • ( 7 )

  

  Among the many nerdy activities I undertake in order to keep myself off the streets and out of trouble is the organization of my library of digital photographs, now up around 100,000 images, including a bunch of scanned postcards that… Read More ›

• MissPres at 10: The Old Capitol’s Red Brick Phase

  By ELMalvaney on February 8, 2019 • ( 6 )

  

  Preservation in Mississippi is 10 years old today–can you believe it? Traditionally, we take the day of our anniversary to go back to the subject of the original MissPres post, the Old Capitol: not just one of Mississippi’s most historic sites and… Read More ›

• The Great Mississippi Architects Strike

  By ELMalvaney on February 6, 2019 • ( 6 )

  

  A friend of mine at the MDAH archives alerted me to a 70-page manuscript in their collection by James G. Chastain, AIA (1922-2014), entitled Bureaucrat Architect and written in 2000. After practicing in Jackson as Neal & Chastain (1958-1961) and Biggs,… Read More ›

• New Roof on Prentiss Club in Natchez

  By ELMalvaney on February 4, 2019 • ( 0 )

  

  A new roof is finally going up on the National Register-listed Prentiss Club in Natchez, which suffered a terrible fire back in September 2018, just as it was about to reopen after a major renovation. Designed by New Orleans architects… Read More ›

• Friday Film: Tupelo Mill Village

  By ELMalvaney on February 1, 2019 • ( 0 )

  

  About Blue Magnolia Films and its bicentennial project . . . https://misspreservation.com/2018/01/19/friday-film-duncan-morgan-brick-layer-of-natchez/ https://thesipmag.com/blue-magnolia-films-community-filmmakers-tell-mississippis-story/ http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2017/11/19/locals-participate-in-statewide-filmmaking-project-for-states-bicentennial/ https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/11/02/a-storytelling-revival-in-mississippi More Tupelo?  

• HABS in Mississippi: Lowndes County Courthouse

  By ELMalvaney on January 30, 2019 • ( 14 )

  

  With its impressive domed clock tower, round-arched windows, and modillioned portico, the Lowndes County Courthouse seems to characterize the confident neoclassicism of the early 20th century. But in fact, it is a somewhat rare antebellum courthouse, built in 1847 and… Read More ›

• Update on Arlington

  By ELMalvaney on January 28, 2019 • ( 4 )

  

  As Thomas Rosell noted in his October 2018 post “News from Natchez,” the City of Natchez is once again pursuing a finding of “demolition by neglect” against the owner of antebellum mansion Arlington, a National Historic Landmark that suffered a… Read More ›

• Historic Places in the Mississippi Encyclopedia

  By ELMalvaney on January 24, 2019 • ( 13 )

  

  As many of you may recall, the Mississippi Encyclopedia was published during the bicentennial year of 2017 after over a decade of work. It’s a massive book, weighing in at 9 pounds, and in the last year, it has been joined by… Read More ›

• Vote in National Trust’s 40 Under 40

  By ELMalvaney on January 18, 2019 • ( 12 )

  

  This is late notice, but you have through today (Jan 18) to vote in the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s “40 Under 40” contest. There are even some Southern buildings, including the Rural Studio in Newbern, Alabama, Thorncrown Chapel in… Read More ›

• Mid-Century Mississippi: Frank Fort’s Old Canton Lane

  By ELMalvaney on January 17, 2019 • ( 2 )

  

  In yesterday’s post about Jackson architect Frank Fort, I bemoaned the lack of a portrait of the man with his obituary. Ask and ye shall find because lo and behold here is a photo not only of Frank Fort (center)… Read More ›