You’ve finally reached the exciting conclusion to the epic trilogy of Columbus Pilgrimage. I know you’ve been anxiously awaiting the announcement of my favorite house on the tour. If only I knew how to do a drumroll here. I guess… Read More ›
Demolition/Abandonment
Just to Clarify: Demolition ≠ Preservation
The Vicksburg Post has published a follow-up to its earlier story about the impending demolition of Speed Street School (1894), one of a handful of 19th century public school buildings left in the state. I posted previously on this topic a couple of… Read More ›
Red Hot Truck Stop, Meridian
In Friday morning’s SAH session on Architecture of the Road, Ethel Goodstein-Murphree of the University of Arkansas gave an enlightening paper called “The Common Place of the Common Carrier: The American Truck Stop.” She devoted a whole section to the Red… Read More ›
Whence Beautiful Places?
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself standing in the Spring sunlight at a farm in northern Mississippi along with a few other people. The matter at hand was whether the site, containing a modest ranch house, a wood… Read More ›
Katrina Recovery, A Second Disaster for Historic Places?
One of my many readers pointed me toward a really good article at Planetizen by Roberta Brandes Gratz of the Project for Public Spaces. The article, called “Citizen Recovery Efforts Hit Government Barriers in New Orleans” is about the trials of re-building… Read More ›
Speed Street School demolition
I saw this article last week, but since it’s pretty much a done deal and because it’s so depressing, I decided I didn’t want to destroy the beautiful symmetry of my Jane Jacobs’ series to insert it into last week’s… Read More ›
The New Yankee Stadium
Paul Goldberger has an interesting critique of the two new baseball stadia (which sounds so much more knowledgeable than “stadiums” don’t you think?) in New York City in this week’s New Yorker. Now, just because I read the New Yorker… Read More ›
Gulfport Library update
A third public meeting about the future of Gulfport Library took place on Thursday (the 12th) and this one seems to have actually produced some encouraging movement on all sides. According to the Sun-Herald article, the many interested parties, including… Read More ›
On Developers, Modernism, and Fondren
After I wrote this post, I decided that it should be considered Part II of The Return of Modernism. In the latest issue of the Northside Sun, editor Wyatt Emmerich discusses the recent talk given by developer David Watkins at… Read More ›
Last Hope for Carr Central?
Here’s sending good thoughts to Carr Central–an amazing 1920s school and Vicksburg landmark. I still don’t understand why the historic preservation tax credits amounting to, I think, 45% of the total cost, aren’t enough to get this project going, but… Read More ›
Update on Philadelphia
Thanks to tsj1957 for sending along the link to the Neshoba Democrat article about last Monday’s historic preservation commission meeting in Philadelphia. As I’m sure you recall from my previous post because you read every last word in every post I’ve… Read More ›
Gulfport Library Meeting
The second public meeting regarding the future of the Gulfport Library was held yesterday in Gulfport. Apparently the county, which seems to have always been more willing to consider keeping the building than the City of Gulfport has, is asking… Read More ›
Demolition Issue in Philadelphia (Miss.)
An article in the Neshoba Democrat gives a good in-depth discussion of the issues surrounding the demolition request that First Baptist Church in Philadelphia has filed. A request to demolish or move an historic home adjacent to The First Baptist… Read More ›
Everything Old is New Deal Again
Before I forget, here’s an interesting New York Times article about the loss of New Deal public buildings at the hands of eeeviilll local and state governments. The author notes the irony of this destruction in the midst of what some… Read More ›
The Return of Modernism
All this has happened before, and will happen again. At least that’s what I’ve learned from 4 seasons of Battlestar Galactica, along with lots of impenetrable mythology. So, I shouldn’t be surprised that Modernism has come back around. To me, the resurrection… Read More ›
Preservation and Exploration
Over at Preservation in Pink Kaitlin muses about the “Urban Exploration Movement.” She asks: “Urban Explorers aren’t the typical preservationists, but are their hearts in the right place? Or would something like this have a negative effect? After all, preservation is more than… Read More ›
Abandoned in the City
A second in a series of articles in the Clarion-Ledger about abandoned buildings in our capital city. I say abandoned because they’re not just vacant, waiting for their next occupant–more, they’ve been abandoned by their owners, left to the destroyers…. Read More ›
Vacant City
A sad article (one of many in recent years, I’m afraid) in the Clarion-Ledger about the thousands of abandoned houses in Jackson. Jackson has more than 12,300 vacant houses among its 76,000 households, according to U.S. Census figures. The… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 