I noticed on the Arcadia Publishing webpage that a new Images of America book is coming out later this month focusing on North State Street in Jackson. Its author is Todd Sanders, an architectural historian with the Mississippi Dept. of… Read More ›
Historic Preservation
Simpson County Courthouse, Mendenhall
Earlier this week, I was coming back to Jackson on Hwy 49 and decided to swing off the highway into Mendenhall. It was such a nice day, albeit a little on the cool side, that I wanted to take some… Read More ›
Green = Energy Efficient?
The title of Richard Moe’s April 5th New York Times op-ed piece “This Old Wasteful House” made me wince. In fact, while reading it, I had to glance back at the name of the author several times to be sure that this… Read More ›
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 ›
Class on Architectural History in Jackson
For those of you who missed the original post, or who had forgotten, or who haven’t checked out the handy Preservation in Mississippi calendar (surely no one could fit into all those categories at once?), the Millsaps Continuing Education class about… Read More ›
Experience Mississippi!
Waiting for me upon my return to the friendly confines of Mississippi was the brochure announcing the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s historic preservation conference Experience Mississippi! For those of you who skipped out on the Mississippi Historical Society’s conference (you know… Read More ›
Fluidity in Architecture
Tonight’s plenary talk was by respected architectural historian Dell Upton, Chair of the Dept. of Art History at UCLA and author of numerous books and articles, most recently Another City: Urban Life and Urban Spaces in the New American Republic (Yale University… 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 ›
Someone Please Give Me the Money to Buy This Place
The Hermitage, Pearl River County’s most historic site, is for sale. I don’t know the exact asking price, except that it’s beyond me (only because my portfolio has taken such a hit, I mean, Bernie Madoff and all those other crooks made… 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 ›
A Historic Survivor Rises Again in Waveland
I had occasion to visit Waveland this week and saw that the old Waveland School, a brick building built in 1920, is completing finishing touches before its grand re-opening. As many of us know, Waveland took a straight shot from Katrina,… Read More ›
Review: Mississippi Celebrates Architecture
Earlier this week, I wandered over to the Mississippi Arts Pavilion in downtown Jackson with some friends (yes, I have a few) to check out the Mississippi Celebrates Architecture exhibit. The exhibit gathers several different collections into five rooms in… Read More ›
Coolest Ole Miss Buildings
I will now announce my much-anticipated nominations for “Coolest Ole Miss Buildings.” To appeal to all segments of my vast reading audience, I have two nominations: one from the 19th century, the other so far into the 20th century, you’ll… Read More ›
To Ole Miss and Back
I spent a little time up Oxford way last week and enjoyed it immensely, mainly because the weather and the sunlight were so amazing that I would have had a major case of Spring Fever if I had been sitting inside…. 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 ›
Jane Jacobs/Robert Moses/Stimulus Bill
Check out these interesting posts over at ThinkMarkets about the possible effects of the stimulus bill’s infrastructure spending on neighborhoods and local social economies. I thought the references to Jane Jacobs were particularly timely given our little whirlwind tour through her… Read More ›
Not (Completely) Buying the Coast Buyouts
Three-and-a-half years after Hurricane Katrina, the Corps of Engineers has finally come up with a buyout plan for the Mississippi Gulf Coast to reduce property damage from future hurricanes. (See the Sun-Herald report of the last public meeting and a good… 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 ›
Book Quotes: Jane Jacobs on the Environment and Suburbia
This is the last post in our series on Jane Jacobs’ Death and Life of Great American Cities. I hope you’ve enjoyed it–if not, well, it’s over now. I have remembered so many good parts as I’ve gone back through the book,… Read More ›
Book Quotes: Jane Jacobs on Old Buildings
Number 4 in our series on Jane Jacobs’ seminal book The Death and Life of Great American Cities. In the chapter titled “The Need for Old Buildings” Jane Jacobs argues that, apart from any architectural considerations, every neighborhood needs a mixture… Read More ›
Book Quotes: Jane Jacobs on Gentrification
“Gentrification” is a word that we preservationists have thrown at us alot. And unlike other arguments against preservation (such as “there’s just too many old buildings around here for the young folks”), gentrification is one that I believe has merit… Read More ›
Book Quotes: Jane Jacobs on Streets
Jacobs’ in-depth observation of her own city, New York, has stuck with me, and this passage from the chapter “The Uses of Sidewalks: Safety” is one that I often recall in particular when I watch my own, much less urban street…. Read More ›
Book Quotes: Jane Jacobs on City Planning
From time to time, either because I’m lazy or because I’m exceptionally clever, I will post a week-long series on a certain topic. This week, our inaugural series will be quotations from Jane Jacob’s classic The Death and Life of Great… 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 ›
Release Me, You Fiend!
Earlier this week, I was walking around downtown Jackson, past the Old Capitol (1839), past the Lamar Life Building (1925), the Governor’s Mansion (1840), the U.S. Courthouse (1933), over to Jackson City Hall (1846), the Hinds County Courthouse (1930), and… 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 ›
An Important House Needs Our Help
A reader contacted me about a house north of Natchez that is very important to Mississippi’s history but that needs some tender loving care to be restored to its former glory. The house was built in 1854 and is a fine… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 