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.

• 101 MissPres Places: East/Central Mississippi Poll Results

  By ELMalvaney on June 27, 2011 • ( 1 )

  

  The results for the East/Central Mississippi poll are in, and it was down to the wire between the modernist Meridianites and the antebellum Raymondonians to see who would edge the other out. At the halfway point, Chris Risher, Sr.’s Vise… Read More ›

• I Feel a Change Comin’ On

  By ELMalvaney on June 24, 2011 • ( 14 )

  If you check back in to MissPres this weekend, you might see things in disarray, mattresses up against the wall, boxes laying around, people arguing about the texture of the wallpaper, etc. Don’t be alarmed, all your favorite posts full… Read More ›

• Fins to the left, Fins to the right . . .

  By ELMalvaney on June 24, 2011 • ( 6 )

  

  Our across-the-River friend Blake Wintory from Lakeport Plantation sent me this screenshot of Jackson’s Petroleum Building as seen in the recent PBS American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders.” This was in response to the last paragraph in my post on the… Read More ›

• Mississippi Architect, January 1964: Hattiesburg Clinic

  By ELMalvaney on June 23, 2011 • ( 8 )

  

  Mississippi Architect’s January 1964 featured Mississippi building introduces us to a Hattiesburg architect we’ve mentioned only in passing here on MissPres, Stephen H. Blair (1926-1993). I don’t know much about Blair, but USM’s archives contains a collection of his drawings,… Read More ›

• Mississippi Architect, January 1964: Computer Designed Architecture?

  By ELMalvaney on June 22, 2011 • ( 4 )

  The January 1964 editorial “Computer Designed Architecture” in Mississippi Architect is fun to read in the same way that looking at pictures from old World’s Fairs (for instance, GM’s Futurama exhibit at the 1939 fair or its Tomorrow-land exhibit in… Read More ›

• Flood Recedes in Rodney

  By ELMalvaney on June 21, 2011 • ( 3 )

  

  Last winter, before any thought of Spring flooding had occurred, I happened upon a Facebook page for Historic Rodney that had an album of historic photos from the 1927 Flood in that now almost-abandoned town. The first thing that strikes you… Read More ›

• Halfway through the East/Central Mississippi Poll: Modernists Come Out Swinging

  By ELMalvaney on June 17, 2011 • ( 0 )

  

  With 316 votes in after one week, our latest 101 MissPlaces poll covering East/Central Mississippi has a Modernist skyscraper by Meridian architect Chris Risher, Sr. well out in front with 15% of the votes. Comparing vote totals at the halfway point (a hazardous… Read More ›

• Two Billboards I Like

  By ELMalvaney on June 16, 2011 • ( 1 )

  

  Lately, in spite of the heat, I’ve been wandering to and fro through the Magnolia State, as I am wont to do, and I’ve seen two billboards on an architectural theme that have brought a smile to my face. Both… Read More ›

• Beach Boulevard at 45 MPH (or was it 55?)

  By ELMalvaney on June 15, 2011 • ( 5 )

  

  I happened to be a passenger in a van traveling along Beach Boulevard from Ocean Springs to Gulfport last week, and while I occasionally have taken pictures while driving, I can now definitively say that it’s much easier to do… Read More ›

• 101 MissPres Places: East/Central Mississippi Poll

  By ELMalvaney on June 10, 2011 • ( 0 )

  After yet another 7th inning stretch in our polling for the 101 Mississippi Places list, we’re back into it with a chance to vote for your favorite places in the East Mississippi region. To avoid a huge glut in the… Read More ›

• Rumblings and Bumblings from Meridian

  By ELMalvaney on June 9, 2011 • ( 13 )

  

  I can’t find anything about this on the Meridian Star site (I don’t think they put all their articles online though), but I’ve heard from a couple of sources that after what appears to me to be a study with… Read More ›

• Internet Archive Brings Us Picturesque Vicksburg

  By ELMalvaney on June 8, 2011 • ( 10 )

  

  Catching up on my e-mails after my internet-less vacation, I found one from MissPreser Charles Bell, who passed on a link to a booklet I’ve been trying to buy with no success, Picturesque Vicksburg: A Description of the Resources and… Read More ›

• Hopeful Update on Matty Hersee

  By ELMalvaney on June 7, 2011 • ( 0 )

  A real vacation, in my opinion, does not include the internet or e-mail, so last week I tried to stick to my philosophical beliefs and avoid the digital world. It helped that the hotel charged $15/day for internet access and… Read More ›

• Vacation Postcards: Crystal Lake, Newton

  By ELMalvaney on June 3, 2011 • ( 9 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. March 7, 1955: “We are having nice weather. No snow here now. Grandma”

• Vacation Postcards: Marshall Motel, West Point

  By ELMalvaney on June 2, 2011 • ( 1 )

  

  MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. “Got here about 10:00 p.m. Left Pensacola at 2:00 p.m. Colder here. Love, Margarette”

• Vacation Postcards: Miramar Hotel, Pass Christian

  By ELMalvaney on June 1, 2011 • ( 2 )

  

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

• Vacation Postcards: Motel Dixiana, Vicksburg

  By ELMalvaney on May 31, 2011 • ( 5 )

  

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

• Time Will Not Dim . . .

  By ELMalvaney on May 30, 2011 • ( 1 )

  

• Critiquing the New Capitol Designs–Bernard Green’s unofficial opinion

  By ELMalvaney on May 26, 2011 • ( 0 )

  The last two posts (Part 1 and Part 2) told us Bernard Green’s official opinion about the 14 proposals for the design of the New Capitol in 1900. To wrap up this series, today we see Green’s informal advice to… Read More ›

• Critiquing the New Capitol Designs (1900)–Part 2

  By ELMalvaney on May 25, 2011 • ( 1 )

  

  Second in our series of transcripts from the State House Commission’s minutes of 1900, in which Washington DC expert Bernard Green examines the 14 proposed designs for the New Capitol and lends his experience to the Commission. Today Green gets… Read More ›

• From the Archives: Critiquing the New Capitol Designs (1900)

  By ELMalvaney on May 24, 2011 • ( 2 )

  

  Today will start a three-part series highlighting the process of choosing an architect’s designs for the New Capitol. We all know how it ends, but the getting there is part of the fun. The series comes straight from the archives,… Read More ›

• Oxford/Holly Springs Poll Results

  By ELMalvaney on May 23, 2011 • ( 4 )

  

  The Oxford/Holly Springs area poll, our latest poll in the run-up for our 101 Mississippi Places list, ended exactly at midnight on Friday, in a rare display of paying attention on my part. We almost made 1000 votes, which puts… Read More ›

• At the end of a long week

  By ELMalvaney on May 20, 2011 • ( 2 )

  I don’t have much to say other than the Oxford/Holly Springs poll ends tonight around midnight, depending on how late I stay up, so if you haven’t voted or if you know someone from Holly Springs who hasn’t voted (judging… Read More ›

• Architectural Twins: One Happy, One Glowering

  By ELMalvaney on May 19, 2011 • ( 3 )

  

  Tuesday’s post about the Trailways station and the former Petroleum building across that street that’s been transformed into what some have called a Darth Vader Building reminded me of a similar but smaller scale transformation to a building here in… Read More ›

• Lighthouse Churches, By Land and By Sea

  By ELMalvaney on May 18, 2011 • ( 2 )

  

  I drive Highway 49 south of Jackson often. One of the landmarks for this otherwise fairly boring stretch between Jackson and Hattiesburg is the Jesus Name Tabernacle near Florence (click on the link to hear a rousing gospel chorus), which… Read More ›

• Demolishing History Before It Becomes Historic

  By ELMalvaney on May 17, 2011 • ( 2 )

  

  Those of you who watched last night’s excellent and evocative PBS American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders” saw clips of the riders walking into Jackson’s Tri-State Trailways station and then walking almost right back out into the police wagon to be… Read More ›

• Halfway Through the Oxford/Holly Springs Poll

  By ELMalvaney on May 13, 2011 • ( 3 )

  

  As is traditional at the halfway point of the regional polls for inclusion in our 101 Mississippi Places, we like to take a peek at where things stand. After one week in our poll of the north-central region and with… Read More ›