I developed an interest in several Jackson apartment buildings after reading a 1929 Manufacturers Record magazine with the following entry. Miss., Jackson — Tom B. Scott, Capitol Natl. Bk. Bldg and associates started work on 12 apartment group on North St. between Boyd… Read More ›
In describing the new offices of the Highway Commission and the large number of employees housed in the Plaza Building (later known as the Standard Life Building and constructed in 1929), the Jackson New Deal (20 October 1933, p. 3) wrote: The only surprising… Read More ›
Today’s interior views come from the October 6, 1935 edition of the Clarion-Ledger, announcing the grand opening of the latest Piggly Wiggly, at 419 E. Capitol Street in downtown Jackson. Interestingly, by the 1937 City Directory, this location was no… Read More ›
When looking at architectural history it is important to consider building types in addition to architectural styles. One such building that might not carry much architectural merit is the humble Carnival Den. But this lowly structure is the bringer of much… Read More ›
Since one of Samuel Wilson’s first projects was the house variously known as Gilreath’s Tavern, Connelly’s Tavern, and the House on Ellicott’s Hill, I thought we would follow up on yesterday’s post with the HABS documentation of the building from… Read More ›
A recent story titled “Downtown Laurel in bloom, thanks to young entrepreneurs“ that ran in the Clarion-Ledger made me think about an article that highlighted a residential building boom that took place in Laurel some one hundred plus years earlier. This boom led to some… Read More ›
Yes, I know that the blog is Preservation in Mississippi and this house is in Arkansas, but Malvaney has posted about New Orleans multiple times so I have an excuse for this bit of mission drift. An aside every once… Read More ›
The benefit to constantly looking for architectural history books to add to my library is that I never know exactly what I will come across next. In this case, it is a (rather beat-up copy) of Small Homes in the… Read More ›
John Lee Webb was born in Alabama either in Tuskegee, Macon County, on September 11, 1877 or in Talladaga, Talladaga County, on September 17, 1877, depending on your source. He volunteered for service in the Spanish-American War, being discharged as a… Read More ›
Last week marked the anniversaries of the life and death of Chicago architect John Wellborn Root (January 10, 1850 – January 15, 1891). Root, one-half of the renowned firm Burnham & Root, only has one documented commission in Mississippi, the… Read More ›
For the first part of the Meridian Trilogy, check out Meridian: Part I. Standard Drug Company started out as Hopkins & Bethea, a small retail drug business established in 1900 on 22nd Avenue next to Weidmann’s Restaurant. According to Fonda… Read More ›
In my readings around the Internet, I found the sad news that Memphis architect Roy Harrover passed away on December 13 at the age of 88. Harrover never practiced in Mississippi; he was a Memphis-based architect from 1955 until his… Read More ›
Scholars like Jay Edwards of Louisiana State University and John Michael Vlach of George Washington University have long made a convincing case that the long, narrow form of what we now call the shotgun house came to the United States through… Read More ›
I didn’t plan on taking a vacation from the blog this week, but how could I have known the Cubs would take me through such a nerve-wracking World Series and making me stay up so late on Wednesday to get them through those… Read More ›
We’ve taken a break from the Craftsman series, but there are just too many nice Craftsman-style buildings in Mississippi to ignore, so here’s a new one on me, the Natchez City Cemetery Shelter House, which I “discovered” back in the… Read More ›
A long while ago, I did a post about the abandoned Mercy Hospital in Vicksburg, which continues to be a popular post here on MissPres. I used a newspaper clipping from the special edition of the Vicksburg Post that ran the… Read More ›
A friend recently sent me a link to the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, National Park Service Digital Archives Flickr page. If you are unfamiliar with his name, you’re likely familiar with his work such as NYC Central Park, Niagara Falls… Read More ›
Recently I came across the Hattiesburg Mississippi Industrial Edition for May 1908. It will most certainly be the source of many future blog posts, with lots of photographs, descriptions, and accounts of goings-on in the Hub City. Of all the civic boosting that is done in… Read More ›
I’ve seen a lot of postcards of Jackson’s Capitol Street looking from the far west end near the King Edward Hotel up to the Old Capitol, but this one goes in the opposite direction and shows some buildings that don’t… Read More ›
There’s so little information about the Chaffin property that the MDAH Historic Resources Database throws up its hands and says “location not documented.” Because no one has seen it since 1936, when HABS photographer James Butters came through, the house… Read More ›
Through the wonders of the internet you can now see every MoMA exhibit ever. Earlier this month the Museum of Modern Art in New York made their complete exhibition history, including photographs, archival documents, & exhibit catalogs, available online. The 86-year-old Museum… Read More ›
For the 200th anniversary of his birth, the Avery Library at Columbia University featured an exhibition exploring the legacy of Andrew Jackson Downing. The exhibit… “…showcases several editions of Downing’s publications and those of his many successors. It offers a glimpse into… Read More ›
It’s football time again folks. This reminded me of an excerpt of a news roundup from this spring… Rick Cleveland’s article “Hometown teams are what make Mississippi, Mississippi” highlights a Smithsonian exhibit that is about to begin touring Mississippi. “In… Read More ›
This fascinating picture comes from an even larger image, titled “Views on Campus, University of Mississippi,” a photo by John C. Coolvert that is available as an electronic record on the MDAH catalog. I had never noticed this interior view,… Read More ›
HABS photographer Lester Jones took a grand total of one photo of Stanton Hall in 1940, and because there are no photographer’s notes, it’s not clear why this grand historic home, now a National Historic Landmark and open daily for… Read More ›
If you’ve been around MissPres for a while, you’ve know we’re big fans of “McAlester’s Field Guide” or more properly A Field Guide to American Houses. This was originally published in 1984, and I wore my paperback copy out by the time… Read More ›
To commemorate the 160th anniversary of Louis Sullivan’s birth (which I foolishly missed on September 3rd) I’d like to pull from the archives a newspaper clipping regarding his most noted apprentice Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast as a guest… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 