Former English Renaissance Style School Building in MS (2024)

The Old Ocean Springs Public School is intact example of the larger urban-type all-grade schools and high schools built in Mississippi in the 1920s. It has long been Ocean Springs' most architecturally prominent public building.

After serving for many years as a school, the building now houses offices for the school district.

Stylistically, the building is an eclectic interpretation of the English Renaissance architecture of the Elizabethan and Stuart periods. This English Renaissance style, much more classical in its form and detailing than the late medieval style generally referred to as "Tudor" and broader in its sources of inspiration than the so-called "Jacobethan" style, was sometimes employed by American architects in the 1910s and 20s in designs for schools, colleges, and libraries.

The Old Ocean Springs School exhibits stylistic features which appear to be drawn from English manor houses from the 1570s to the 1650s.

Architectural surveys and research conducted by the Mississippi Department of Archives and History have thus far identified some twenty surviving examples of the larger urban-type schools of the 1910s and 20s. These are two- or three-story brick buildings, often with T- or E-shaped plans, built either as high schools or as all-grade schools. They tend to be larger than schools built specifically for the elementary grades and are larger and more architecturally elaborate than most rural consolidated schools of the period. Of the twenty examples identified, only four are substantially Tudor in style, and the Old Ocean Springs School is the only example of the more classical English Renaissance style. The other larger urban-type schools of this period generally display Classical Revival or Prairie-Style characteristics, or have more loosely eclectic designs.

The versatility of the architect, William T. Nolan of New Orleans, can be appreciated by comparing this building with the other two works he is known to have executed in Mississippi. The Bay St. Louis High School (1926) is identical in its overall plan to the Ocean Springs School, but expresses the Spanish Colonial style in its detailing and surface materials. The Edwards Hotel (1923) in Jackson is a high-rise interpretation of an Italian palazzo.

The auditorium of the Ocean Springs School contains several murals by noted Ocean Springs artist Walter Anderson. These murals were removed to a new Walter Anderson museum for Proper curation and enhanced accessibility.

Building Description

The Old Ocean Springs Public School is a symmetrical, two-story masonry building which faces north on a large, grassy lot. It is roughly T-shaped in plan, with the stem of the T formed by an auditorium wing at the rear.

The end bays of the principal facade project forward from the plane of the front wall. The flat roof is concealed behind a continuous parapet.

The stylistic character of the building is eclectic, combining English Renaissance elements with abstract patterned brickwork typical of the 1920s. The English Renaissance elements are largely confined to the central portion of the facade. This area is surmounted by a Jacobean curvilinear parapet. The main entrance, reached by a short set of steps, is a double-leaf door with a rectangular transom, surrounded by an elaborate cast-stone frontispiece featuring rich moldings, an engaged balustrade forming a false balconet, and a large second-story tripartite window surmounted by a broken pediment. The composition of this frontispiece is similar to that at Thorpe Hall in Hampshire, England (built 1653-56). The surround of the upper window, with its broken curved pediment and unusual guttae-trimmed brackets, resembles one at Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire (1572). While these English manor houses may not have been the models for those elements, the resemblance nonetheless indicates the English Renaissance character of the design. Other Renaissance elements in the design include the cartouches atop the windows flanking the frontispiece and the urns adorning the parapet.

The walls of the building are finished in stucco extensively trimmed with bands of red brick in decorative patterns with cast-stone corner blocks, which frame the numerous windows, mostly nine-over-nine double-hung, placed singly and in sets of four or five. The walls rest upon a continuous foundation of red brick.

The interior plan is very simple, consisting of a single transverse corridor on each floor with classrooms along either side and an auditorium, with balcony, opening off the corridor to the rear of the building. At each end of the corridor are stairs and exterior doors. A short hallway leads from the main entrance to the central corridor. The interior is finished in a simple, utilitarian manner, except in the entrance hall, which contains two ceramic tile panels by James ("Mac") Anderson, and in the auditorium, which contains several mural panels painted by Walter Anderson. The murals are to be moved to a new Walter Anderson museum for proper care and enhanced accessibility.

Two new school buildings have been built behind the old school, facing the two side streets. These new buildings are linked to the old school by concrete walks covered by wood and metal canopies.

Front north facade (1989)

Central portion of front facade (1989)

East side of building, showing covered walkway (1989)

First story corridor (1989)