Mississippi Architectural Historian to Speak at Lakeport Legacies

August 18, 2015
JONESBORO – Jennifer Baughn, chief architectural historian at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, will speak at Lakeport Plantation’s monthly history talk, “Lakeport Legacies,” Thursday, Aug. 27, at 6 p.m. Refreshments and conversation starts at 5:30 p.m., at the Lakeport Plantation, 601 Highway 142, Lake Village, Ark. Admission is free. Baughn’s talk is titled, “Delta Modern,” and is about mid-century architecture (1930s-1960s) in the Mississippi Delta. At mid-century, traditional and modern styles were competing architectural visions. In the Delta, two Mississipppi architects—Leland native Harold Kaplan and Jackson’s N. W. Overstrett—exemplify the period. Kaplan’s modern designs for public buildings, like T. L. Weston High School (1954), are a contrast to his designs for traditional Colonial private homes, like White Pillars (1948) in Greenville’s Gamyn Park neighborhood.
JONESBORO – Jennifer Baughn, chief architectural historian at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, will speak at Lakeport Plantation’s monthly history talk, “Lakeport Legacies,” Thursday, Aug. 27, at 6 p.m. Refreshments and conversation starts at 5:30 p.m., at the Lakeport Plantation, 601 Highway 142, Lake Village, Ark. Admission is free.
Lakeport PlantationBaughn’s talk is titled, “Delta Modern,” and is about mid-century architecture (1930s-1960s) in the Mississippi Delta. At mid-century, traditional and modern styles were competing architectural visions. In the Delta, two Mississipppi architects—Leland native Harold Kaplan and Jackson’s N. W. Overstrett—exemplify the period. Kaplan’s modern designs for public buildings, like T. L. Weston High School (1954), are a contrast to his designs for traditional Colonial private homes, like White Pillars (1948) in Greenville’s Gamyn Park neighborhood.
Drawing from examples across the Delta, Baughn will also discuss the region’s most interesting modern architecture such as Greenville’s Coleman High School and Delta State’s Young-Mauldin cafeteria. Exemplifying the optimism and booming economy of the decades after World War II, Mississippi’s modernist architecture is gaining the appreciation of both historians and architecture buffs for its clean lines, functional planning and futuristic detailing.
For more information and to RSVP, contact Blake Wintory (870) 265-6031. Also, information may be obtained at http://lakeport.astate.edu/2015/08/13/lakeport-legacies-%C2%B7-august-27-%C2%B7-delta-modern-%C2%B7-jennifer-baughn/.
Lakeport Legacies is a monthly history talk held on one of the last Thursdays at the Lakeport Plantation during the spring and summer. Each month a topic from the Delta region is featured. The event is free and open to the public.
The Lakeport Plantation is an Arkansas State University Heritage Site. Constructed circa 1859, Lakeport is one of Arkansas's premier historic structures and still retains many of its original finishes and architectural details. Open to the public since 2007, Lakeport researches and interprets the people and cultures that shaped plantation life in the Mississippi River Delta, focusing on the Antebellum, Civil War and Reconstruction periods.
Arkansas Heritage Sites at Arkansas State University develops and operates historic properties of regional and national significance in the Arkansas Delta. A-State's Heritage Sites include the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center, Southern Tenant Farmers Museum, Lakeport Plantation, the Historic Dyess Colony: Boyhood Home of Johnny Cash and the Arkansas State University Museum.
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Mississippi Architectural Historian to Speak at Lakeport Legacies
Lakeport Plantation