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 ›
Recent Past
A Custom McHuley & Lattimore House
We were recently introduced to builder Bilbo McHuley and architect William Lattimore, the duo that was designing and building homes for Jackson’s African-American community in the late 1950s & early 1960s. I came across this ad for self-described “Jackson’s foremost home… Read More ›
Friday is a Gas: Humble, Enco, Esso, and Exxon c.1960-c.1970
I had planned for a post on this station later in the Friday is a Gas series, but due to the tornado damage this building suffered last Friday, I thought it might be good to highlight it in hopes of… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 6-20-2017
Lots of good news this week so lets jump right into this week’s roundup. Good news from Starkville this week, compared to the news last week that fourteen structures including three historic houses were demolished. Starkville Police to open new offices in restored… Read More ›
Happy Birthday Bruce Goff & Frank Lloyd Wright
Go inside Bruce Goff’s “Star House,” built in 1960 for Mr. and Mrs. Emil Gutman in Bayou View neighborhood of Gulfport.
Mississippi Builders: Bilbo McHuley
Last week’s post on African American designer/architect W.A. Lattimore mentioned that he worked with builder Bilbo McHuley, and that reminded me that I’ve been sitting on this ad for a “McHuley home,” published in the February 22, 1964 edition of… Read More ›
Chicken Chef: Mississippi’s Own A-Frame
A-frame buildings tend to stand out to me just because they are not too common around Mississippi, or anywhere else for that matter. The term A-frame comes from the shape of the structure, where the roof extends down steeply on… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-25-2017
Let’s jump right on in to this week’s roundup. In Neshoba County, near Philadelphia, the Mt. Zion Methodist Church is in the process of being nominated for National Register of Historic Places. Mt. Zion Church was burned by the Ku Klux Klan… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-18-2017
From Mary Holmes College to Gulfport Library, from fences at Greenwood Cemetery to the roof of the old Greenville Depot, from Natchez to Jackson to Tupelo and points in between, here’s all the Mississippi preservation news that’s fit to print (virtually, on the internets).
The Matawan Texacos of Mississippi
I was in Monticello (Mississippi) a while back when a handsome former service station caught my eye. It is unmistakable as a Texaco station built in that fuel company’s “Matawan” style, so named after the site of the first location of… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 2-13-2017
Lets jump right in, feet first to this week’s roundup. The big news this past week was in the City of Clinton where a property owner faces more than 1,400 code violations to historic buildings. The city is pulling no… Read More ›
In Memoriam: Roy Harrover (1928-2016)
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 ›
Your Southern Grandparents Loved Their Ranch Homes!
“The antebellum Southern plantation house, with its wide verandah and impressive pillars, is no longer the “dream home” of the South. The average Southern home buyer today is looking for a ranch-style house, built of brick, containing at least one pine-panelled room, and in the medium-price range.” Commercial Dispatch, 1953.
Summer Events for MissPresers
Several emails about upcoming events in Mississippi preservation came through my inbox last week and I thought all MissPresers would want to know. Here they are, in chronological order (and they’ve all been placed on the MissPres calendar, for your… Read More ›
Mad Mod Delta Tour Report
Today’s post is brought to you by our inveterate architectural tourist, Neel Reid, who also reported on last year’s Mad Mod Eastover tour. ————————————————— It’s easy to overlook Modernist commercial architecture. Coming into a world where cars dictate the layout… Read More ›
Happy Hanukkah Y’all! 2015
Looking back at Hanukkahs past, before looking forward…. Hanukkah 2014 and Chris Risher’s beautiful temple both celebrated the Temple Beth Israel in Meridian. For Hanukkah in 2012 we looked at not only some of the historic sacred places across the state, but also at buildings… Read More ›
Then & Now: Sheraton Motor Inn
Today’s Then and Now is a lesson in the life-cycle of hotels in our throw-away society. If you’ve driven down I-55 in Jackson recently, you’ve seen the former Sheraton Motor Inn just north of the Northside Drive exit, but you… Read More ›
46th Anniversary of Hurricane Camille
To mark this occasion let’s look back at a collection of posts as to how we’ve previously commemorated the anniversary of the Gulf Coast’s second-most destructive storm in memory. Last year we marked the 45th Anniversary of Hurricane Camille by taking a… Read More ›
Six Years: Does this mean you hate it, Miss Ada Louise?
As we celebrate the Sixth year of existence for Misspreservation.com we look back on some of our favorite and poignant posts. This post originally debuted in January of 2010, fifty years after the construction of the Bruce Goff-designed Gryder House in Ocean Springs…. Read More ›
Mid-Century Mississippi: Segregation in the Jet Age
Today’s post is a follow-up to the previous Mid-Century Mississippi post about the opening of Jackson’s new jet airport in 1963. It’s a follow-up even though it was written a year earlier than that grand opening, because it shows the… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 4-7-2015
From the Coast to Columbus, from Jackson to the Delta and points in between, preservationists get down and dirty in old barns looking for original windows, fight in the legislature for historic tax credits, and pass on pilgrimage traditions to new preservationists. Read all about it in this week’s News Roundup.
How Jackson Ready-Mix Made Jax-Lite Blocks
In addition to the double-page advertisement shown below and the description of the benefits of Jax-Lite concrete blocks reprinted in yesterday’s post, the Jackson Daily News devoted space in its June 13, 1954 issue to a description of the Jackson Ready-Mix… Read More ›
Mad Mod Eastover Tour Review
Today’s review of the recent Mad Mod Eastover tour is brought to you by longtime MissPres reader and commenter Neel Reid. ———————————— It’s hard to classify modernism in architecture. Advances in technology and new materials shaped much of the movement,… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 3-2-2015
Hear the latest from Starkville’s Cotton Mill project, MHT’s Mad Mod Affair, Jackson’s McRae’s building renovation, Pascagoula’s gala for LaPointe Krebs House, and learn about an amazing preservationist from Pass Christian.
Modern Mississippi Update
If you haven’t visited the Mississippi Heritage Trust website http://www.lovemsmod.com since its launch you need to stop back by. The posts are piling up and have highlighted some of Jackson and the Gulf Coast’s premier Modern works. They are, in no particular… Read More ›
Happy Hanukkah Y’all! 2014
A holiday that is celebrated with fried food? What Mississippian wouldn’t like that? Tonight (really Dec. 23, but I pressed the “Publish” button too soon) will be the eighth night of Hanukkah. MissPres is marking the occasion with photos of the Congregation Beth Israel… Read More ›
Modern Meridian Tour 12.13.14
If you were not able to make it to the Modern Meridian Tour last Saturday, you really missed out on a special opportunity to see some places not generally open to the public. The morning started in the Crestwood Elementary… Read More ›
Preservation in Mississippi 