Gulf Towers, a high-rise apartment building in Biloxi, was the featured Mississippi building in the February 1964 issue of Mississippi Architect. It might be hard to remember now, but back in 1964, before Camille and of course before Katrina, the… Read More ›
Recent Past
Destroying Modern Architecture?!
The Blog of the Preservation Research Office has an interesting post entitled “Destroying Modern Architecture in St. Louis” regarding the St. Louis Pruitt Igoe Housing Project among other St. Louis modern architecture icons. The post discusses some of the issues… Read More ›
Fins to the left, Fins to the right . . .
Our across-the-River friend Blake Wintory from Lakeport Plantation sent me this screenshot of Jackson’s Petroleum Building as seen in the recent PBS American Experience documentary “Freedom Riders.” This was in response to the last paragraph in my post on the… Read More ›
Mississippi Architect, January 1964: Hattiesburg Clinic
Mississippi Architect’s January 1964 featured Mississippi building introduces us to a Hattiesburg architect we’ve mentioned only in passing here on MissPres, Stephen H. Blair (1926-1993). I don’t know much about Blair, but USM’s archives contains a collection of his drawings,… Read More ›
They Fought the Feds and the Feds Won
A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to sit in on a lunchtime roundtable discussion at the Society of Architectural Historians meeting hosted by the Louisiana chapter of the Modernist preservation group DOCOMOMO (a slightly difficult but fun-to-say… Read More ›
Photographer Joseph Molitor’s 1952 Trip to Mississippi
To follow up on yesterday’s post regarding Architectural Photographer Joseph W. Molitor, this week is the 59th anniversary of Joseph Molitor’s first trip to Mississippi and what better way to celebrate than to share the buildings he photographed? According to… Read More ›
Architectural Photographer Joseph W. Molitor 1907-1996
While reading Malvaney’s post regarding the Lyle Cashion Company building, one of the names mentioned in the article rang a bell: “Photos by Joseph W. Moliter.” Even though misspelled “Moliter” in the original article (it was in the original article… Read More ›
Oxford Film Festival & Pruitt Igoe
The Oxford Film Festival is this weekend! A lot of the films look great though one that stands out is The Pruitt-Igoe Myth: An Urban History.
Mississippi Architect, Sept 1963: Calvary Baptist Church, Meridian
The featured article in Mississippi Architect’s September 1963 issue is Calvary Baptist Church in Meridian. Calvary is still going strong it appears, and you can see a color picture of the interior and those long thin stained glass windows on… Read More ›
Mississippi Architect, “Engineers and Architecture”
It’s been a while since we posted another volume of the Mississippi Architect, originally published from March 1963 through March 1965. Each volume contains a brief editorial, usually from Jackson architect Bob Henry, an article about a recent Mississippi building… Read More ›
For Auld Lang Syne: Friends We Lost in 2010
It’s traditional here on MissPres to use the relatively quiet week between Christmas and New Years to look back over the events of the year, both good and bad. Hopefully this will help us take stock and get ready for… Read More ›
MiMo No Mo? The Sun-n-Sand in Downtown Jackson Needs Our Help
When R.E. “Dumas” Milner opened the Sun-n-Sand in downtown Jackson in October 1960 the age of the shiny new “motor hotel” was in full swing. In spite of major renovations at Milner’s King Edward on West Capitol Street, Milner sensed… Read More ›
General Services Administration Historic Building Program
The General Services Administration (or GSA) is the agency tasked with being the landlord for the Federal Government. Established in 1949 they are responsible for construction of new Federal buildings, as well as maintaining many historic Federally owned structures. The… Read More ›
Mississippi Architect, August 1963
Today’s reprint of the editorial from Mississippi Architect’s August 1963 edition is especially interesting to me given some of the recent debates here on MissPres pitting Classicism against Modernism. As the tides of architectural styles rise and fall, many today… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 11-22-2010
Happy Thanksgiving week everyone! Even though we skipped a week for the News Round-Up so Malvaney could catch us up on the blogging world, I’ve been keeping up with the news from around the state. As you’ll see, the Coast… Read More ›
Round the Blogosphere 11-15-2010
I gave jrgordon the day off on the weekly news roundup because I realized it’s been two months since our last blogosphere roundup. I’ve been starring posts like mad in my Google Reader, and if I don’t post them for… Read More ›
Funky Light Fixtures
I suspect I’m not the only MissPreser who enjoys the occasional Rejuvenation catalog that comes in the mail. Imagine my surprise when I spotted a Mid-Century Modern light fixture in a round student union building in the Mississippi Delta.
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 was a place that time forgot–was how much the region had changed over the latter half… Read More ›
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 10-3-2010
I think it’s evidence of a long hot summer when 62 degrees feels like winter, but that’s where I am right now. On to the news . . . ——————————— It seems the on-going maintenance and renovation of the New… Read More ›
Friday Just for Fun
Now that I’ve been mentally freed (thanks, W!) to post the News Roundups on Mondays, I can leave Friday for something light and fun if I want to, and this week, we ask a light and fun question of terminology…. Read More ›
Abandoned Mississippi: Kuhn Memorial State Hospital, Vicksburg
Tucked away on the Jackson Road (now Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.) between downtown Vicksburg and the Vicksburg National Military Park stands a huge abandoned hulk that today emanates despair but was for over a century a place of hope… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 9-20-2010
Could the horrible summer weather we’ve been having be a punishment of some kind, maybe for the demolition of the Central Delta Academy, or since it started before that, the project at the Naval Reserve Center? Or am I reading… Read More ›
Jackson’s Fondren Neighborhood: Historic and Hip
Pretty much everywhere I go lately, someone asks me, “Have you read The Help?” “No,” I reply, “I’m waiting for the movie.” Not only will seeing the movie save me time, it will also showcase my neighborhood, the hippest, coolest… Read More ›
Claude H. Lindsley alive and well… in 1968
In a previous post there had been some discussion of what happened to Claude Lindsley, Jackson architect of the Art Deco Standard Life Building (among many other landmarks), later on in his life. He moved from Houston, Texas some time in the 1950’s… Read More ›
Before and After: Coleman High School, Greenville
You may remember back last summer around this time when I was doing the Book Quotes about Hitchcock and Johnson’s The International Style, I posted this old postcard of Coleman High School in Greenville. I was in Greenville recently and… Read More ›
MissPres News Roundup 8-20-2010
Three weeks of August down, only one and a little bit to go. We can do it, y’all! This week’s roundup has lots of national stories in it, I don’t know why. ————————————- NPR had a fascinating story on All… Read More ›