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.
-
Mid-Week Mid-Century: Mississippi Architect Fellow Tom Biggs
This last installment from the May 1963 issue of Mississippi Architect is an unusual one for the magazine, as it focuses on one particular Mississippi architect who was being honored by the A.I.A. We’ve looked at a few of Tom… Read More ›
-
Ocean Springs’ Charnley-Norwood House Wins National Award
The Louis Sullivan-designed Charnley-Norwood House in Ocean Springs has won a preservation award from the prestigious Victorian Society in America, based in New York City. Two other projects won an award in the VSA’s annual meeting earlier in October: the… Read More ›
-
MHT Announces 11th 10 Most Endangered List
Thursday evening at the restored historic Lowry House in Jackson, the Mississippi Heritage Trust announced its latest list of Mississippi’s 10 Most Endangered Historic Places. As always, the announcement was followed by food, fellowship, and a silent auction of artwork… Read More ›
-
Jackson’s former General Electric Plant a victim of arson
According to WLBT, the former G.E. Lamp Works, more lately the Jackson Enterprise Center, on Highway 80 suffered a major arson fire beginning sometime late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning, and firefighters spent most of the day keeping hot… Read More ›
-
Mid-Week Mid-Century: Three Round Banks
When I was in Meridian looking at the old Sears building last week, I discovered for the first time (although I’ve driven past them numerous times) two mid-century banks in the same area. They reminded me of a former bank… Read More ›
-
MissPres News Roundup 10-10-2017
Behind the storm and fury of Hurricane Nate, preservation news was bubbling around the state and not in a good way. Thankfully, so far it seems that Nate’s damage on the Mississippi Gulf Coast was minimal, and I haven’t heard… Read More ›
-
10 Most Endangered Places Unveiling on October 19
From our friends at the Mississippi Heritage Trust comes the announcement of this year’s 10 Most Endangered Places Unveiling. This bi-annual event shines light on some of Mississippi’s most endangered historic places and is always a good time to meet… Read More ›
-
Mid-Week Mid-Century: Homogeneously Eclectic Yazoo City Storefronts
Yazoo City’s downtown may qualify as the most homogenous in the state, by which I mean of the same period and of a piece. As most of you probably know, a great fire took out a couple dozen blocks of… Read More ›
-
HABS in Mississippi: The Castle, Aberdeen
A castle. In Aberdeen, Mississippi. Have you seen it?
-
Newspaper Clippings: Wiring the Pascagoula-Moss Point Bank, 1960
Here’s an interesting take on a building that’s appeared a few times here on MissPres, most recently an announcement of its new owners and plans for new life. Here we get an article that was first published in a trade… Read More ›
-
Industrial Mississippi: Armstrong Cork Co., Jackson
A couple of weeks ago, a reader named Mark noted in a comment to an Industrial Mississippi post: The Jackson plant of Armstrong Flooring (formerly Armstrong Cork and Armstrong World Ind) is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2017. It’s been… Read More ›
-
Historic For Sale: Cedar Grove, Vicksburg
Vicksburg’s famous Cedar Grove Inn overlooking the Mississippi River is on the market for $1.199 million dollars, offered by Ernesto Caldeira of Dorian Bennett Sotheby’s International Realty of New Orleans. You may recall that Mr. Caldeira is also a longtime… Read More ›
-
Before and After: Holiday Inn, Meridian
As I think I’ve mentioned before, one of “those projects” on my List of Things To Do, is to go through my postcard collection, which I’ve scanned, and add a location to each one when possible. At times, it’s easy… Read More ›
-
Historic For Sale: Waverley
Recently, we’ve seen a spate of important landmark buildings up for sale around the state: Mt. Hope, Gillespie-Jackson House, among others. It seems to me that what they have in common is that they were saved or lovingly preserved by… Read More ›
-
Who Built the Lyceum?
I admit I’m spending far too much time this week glued to my television and/or computer watching the latest updates on Hurricane Irma. Something I do when I’m watching too much TV is to sort through stacks of papers that… Read More ›
-
Mid-Week Mid-Century: In Praise of Masonry Screens
I’ve pretty much fallen in love with masonry screens since I first started noticing them a few years ago. Most popular in the 1950s through 1970s, these decorative concrete block are a low-cost way to create a wall, provide privacy… Read More ›
-
Industrial Mississippi: Johns-Manville, Natchez
The Johns-Manville plant operated in Natchez from 1947 to 2002. I came across this article when it first opened. Johns-Manville Sets Date For Completion Natchez Plant To Cost $5,000,000 Natchez, April 12–Construction of the large Johns-Manville unsulating board plant at… Read More ›
-
Katrina at 12: What FEMA did
Twelve years ago, the rest of the world was watching on their TVs scenes from the Mississippi Coast and New Orleans that were very similar to what we’re watching on our smart phones from the Texas coast today. After Katrina… Read More ›
-
1929 Was a Very Good Year . . . For Concrete in Jackson
It’s hard to imagine now how fast tall buildings went up back in the day when labor was relatively cheap and huge forces of men could be thrown onto a project. The year 1929, which as we all now know… Read More ›
-
Historic For Sale: Two antebellum houses in Starkville
Two antebellum houses in Starkville, the Gillespie-Jackson House and The Cedars, have recently gone on the market, according to the Commerical Dispatch, and unfortunately, the Gillespie-Jackson property is being offered as a commercial or mixed-use development, which seems to imply the owners… Read More ›
-
Historic For Sale: Mt. Hope Plantation near Hazlehurst
If you’ve always dreamed of a country retreat that’s near enough to civilization to get groceries or go to a restaurant but far enough out to see the stars and enjoy the sound of frogs and crickets instead of highway… Read More ›
-
Neither the Sun nor the Hand Will Come Out Tomorrow
Due to the rain that’s expected to continue through tomorrow, The Hand Pointing to Heaven will not be placed back on its perch in Port Gibson tomorrow morning, so if you were planning to make the trek to watch, keep… Read More ›
-
Yes, Virginia, there were alligators!
It’s been five years to the day since I asked the MissPres universe to “Show Me the Alligator Gargoyles!” and now that no one has stepped forward with pictures, I felt it was time to take matters into my own… Read More ›
-
Those Disappearing Telephone Booths
As one of the few people on earth who hasn’t yet embraced the smart phone fad, I have had cause to miss the conveniently located but humble telephone booths that used to dot our towns, shopping centers, gas stations, and… Read More ›
-
McComb’s Downtown Theater Collapses
A landmark historic building in downtown McComb collapsed on Sunday without any injuries to passersby, according to the McComb Enterprise-Journal. Built around 1920, the four-story building had originally been the State Bank and Trust, with Jacob’s Theater in the upper… Read More ›
-
Mid-Week Mid-Century: Modernism in the Mississippi Delta
One thing that surprised me when I moved to Mississippi and ventured into the Delta–a place that I had understood from various news stories had been forgotten by time–was how much the region had changed over the latter half of… Read More ›
-
Vacation Postcards: Arlington, Natchez
MissPres is on vacation this week, but we’re sending postcards back from Mississippi’s past. See also . . . Blink Twice and Arlington Might Vanish
Preservation in Mississippi 