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.
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“Everything Level, Toylike From Air”
We like to think that technology is advancing faster today than it ever has before. But the early to mid-twentieth century could give us a run for our money, showing possibly even more consequential change in the period 1900-1930. Today’s… Read More ›
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Hints of Segregation Past
Long long ago, in a galaxy far far away I wrote a post about the layers of history we can see in our architecture by looking at the backs and sides of buildings. That post “Where History Meets Architecture” was about… Read More ›
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Dear Baptist Hospital: Please Save This Building!
A concerned reader passed along the discouraging news that the old Patterson-Bradford Rexall Drug Store on N. State Street in Jackson may soon fall victim to yet more Baptist Hospital expansion. I hope Baptist will re-consider: this building’s architecturally significance… Read More ›
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Two Videos to Start Your Week
JRGordon decided to take President’s Day off from the weekly news roundup, but luckily MissPreser Blake Wintory of Lakeport Plantation sent links to two YouTube videos (or are they called digital shorts nowdays?) that I think everyone will find worth… Read More ›
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The MissPres 101 Places Map!
Well, as usual it took me a little longer than I had promised, and I only got it done with help from reader and fellow blogger Tom Freeland, but here at long last is the Official MissPres 101 Places to… Read More ›
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To Be or Not To Be, That Was the Question
Three years and one day ago after a full day of painting on my house renovation project, I sat down at my computer and started a blog. I had never started a blog before. I thought it would be an… Read More ›
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A Brief History of Headers
Today is technically the third anniversary of Preservation in Mississippi, but due to my own mistaken impression on the first year’s anniversary that February 9 was the big day, tomorrow will actually be the “Observed” date. In the meantime, as you’ll… Read More ›
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Interesting Mississippi-related Blog Posts
If you can get past the title, the Curator of Shit blog has several interesting Mississipp-related posts, ranging from “The Glorious Evolution of Messeur Elisaeus von Seutter’s Pleasure Grounds at Ivy Cottage, Jackson, Mississippi,” to “A typical early 20th century… Read More ›
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Corinth Machinery Building, 1869-2012
As JRGordon noted in last week’s News Roundup, the long-abandoned and highly endangered Corinth Machinery Building, built in 1869, suffered a large partial collapse in that weekend’s heavy storms. As you might remember from a post back in January 2010,… Read More ›
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Slave Dwelling Project in Holly Springs
According to the Preserve Holy Springs and Marshall County Facebook page, Joe McGill of The Slave Dwelling Project will be spending the night in two Holly Springs slave quarters during Pilgrimage (April 13-15) and helping visitors understand these historic places…. Read More ›
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The Official 101 Mississippi Places to See Before You Die List
As I mentioned yesterday, due to my natural soft-hearted nature, our famous and infamous list of 101 Places is actually a list of 106 Places, but I make no apologies. It’s not the list I would have come up with… Read More ›
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Trying to Make Sense of the 101 MissPres Places Poll
Today and tomorrow, we will finally, at long last and after much fretting, announce the list of 101 Mississippi Places To See Before You Die (shortened to 101 Places for convenience). For those of you who weren’t around from start… Read More ›
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Two Photo Essays on Endangered Places
Check out these two recent photo essays on endangered historic places in Mississippi: “Decaying History” on the Modern Southerner blog, and “A beautiful dogtrot house, fading slowly away” on NMissCommentor.
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Abandoned Mississippi: Port Gibson Oil Works
The abandoned plant of the Mississippi Cotton Oil Company wasn’t on the recent Port Gibson Holiday Home Tour, but as I was wandering about before the tours started, I was drawn to the place, just north of downtown, like a… Read More ›
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Mississippi Architect, May 1964: Gulde Methodist Church
A simple Modern rural church was the featured Mississippi building in the May 1964 issue of the Mississippi Architect. ——————————————————————– GULDE METHODIST CHURCH Rankin County, Miss. CLEMMER & CLARK, A.I.A. Architects Jackson, Miss. R.D. MOON Contractor Pelahatchie, Miss. THIS rural… Read More ›
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Mississippi Architect, May 1964: Speaking Architects’ Language
In his editorial for May 1964, Mississippi Architect editor and Jackson architect Edward F. Neal notes the language barrier between architects and clients. This is and probably always will be a problem with any kind of specialized field, and like… Read More ›
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Going Inside: St. Joseph Catholic Church and its Blue Glow
It’s a nice coincidence that in the same week as an update on Jackson’s First Christian Church we should look at the interior of Port Gibson’s St. Joseph Catholic Church. Built almost exactly 100 years apart, these two buildings might be… Read More ›
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Some Things To Do This “Winter”
It’s that time of year again for Millsaps to offer its Community Enrichment Series, short courses geared toward the general public and for a small fee. In addition to courses as varied as portrait photography and belly dancing, they are… Read More ›
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Is that a hole in First Christian?
Just before the New Year, MissPres reader “M” (who, I’m told, is a first cousin twice removed from James Bond’s “Q”), alerted us in a comment left on “Friends We Lost in 2011” that there appears to be a large… Read More ›
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Martin Luther King, Jr. in Philadelphia, Miss.
From the Downtown Philadelphia Historic District nomination, recounting the civil rights march led by Martin Luther King, Jr., in Philadelphia. Held on June 21, 1966, the march from Independence Quarters, a large black neighborhood west of the railroad, to the… Read More ›
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When You Absolutely Positively Have to Know What’s a Volute?
Recently I took a second look at the sizable number of architectural dictionaries sitting on my shelves, most within easy reach arm’s length of my computer desk. While it may seem that I know just the right architectural term for… Read More ›
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Round the Blogosphere 1-8-2012
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… Read More ›
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Going Inside: Port Gibson’s First Presbyterian
We’ve all heard about the Hand Pointing To Heaven that tops the steeple of Port Gibson’s First Presbyterian Church and most of have probably seen it while driving down Church Street, but the interior of the church is worth looking… Read More ›
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Architects of Mississippi: William Stanton
Maybe you remember the post “From Charleston to Vicksburg With Love” from a while back about the connection between Vicksburg and Charleston, SC, namely the architect of Vicksburg’s Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity started his career in Charleston, with… Read More ›
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2011 in review
I was sitting down to post the MissPres annual report for 2011 just before midnight, since my neighbors were shooting off fireworks over my house, and lo and behold, I found that WordPress has already prepared an annual report for… Read More ›
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Books About The City
Check out Simon Jenkins’ recent “Five Best Books About The City” in the Wall Street Journal. It includes Jane Jacobs’ Death and Life of Great American Cities, our very first Book Quotes series here on MissPres.
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Mississippi Landmarks 2011
To end our week of lists, here’s a photographic summary of the historic places designated as Mississippi Landmarks this year. As we’ve noted before, “Mississippi Landmark” and “National Register” are sometimes confused, but they are two completely different programs to… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 