Switching it up a little today with a video! Had a great time hangin’ at the Avondale Brewing Company in Birmingham this weekend. Historic preservation, neighborhood revitalization and beer… of course they go together. Stay tuned for more!
I am a newlywed. It is still strange saying it or typing it. You plan and talk about this event everyday for months and then when the time comes…it flies by. I never actually believed people when they said it goes by fast but wow! During these past few weeks I’ve been oogling our wedding photos done by the amazing Sarah DeShaw. They are so beautiful and I have enjoyed reliving all the little moments that are such a blur to me now.
As one of my “something borrowed” and “something old” pieces I wore my great grandmother’s mink stole during the ceremony over my gown. I noticed in one of the photos the label in the mink read, Maison Blanche New Orleans. Having an affinity for the “finer things” like antiques and vintage clothing, I had to do some digging about this store.
Image Sarah DeShaw Photography
I found out quite a bit! New Orleanians flocked to Maison Blanche for its opening day on Oct. 30, 1897. The grand department store on Canal Street employed 600 workers and had a selling space of 60,580 square feet, according to The Daily Picayune.
Image: New Orleans Magazine
Original Maison Blanche building
After the original building was replaced by a gleaming new Beaux-Arts building in the early 20th century, the store housed non-retail ventures as well. New Orleanians grew up going to the doctor’s or dentist’s office in the Maison Blanche building. The city’s first radio station, WSMB, was founded in 1925 and made its home on the 13th floor.
new Maison Blanche building constructed in early 1900s
Easter Hat window display
The owners of the department store had accomplished their goal of creating an enormous department store that rivaled the opulence and extravagance of the famed Bergdorff Goodman store in New York. Maison Blanche was sold to several chains over its history, until it was acquired by Dillard’s. The store was shuttered for good soon after, in the summer of 1998. In 2000, the Ritz-Carlton hotel moved into the building and is still there today.
Although the gorgeous original building did not survive, it is encouraging that its predecessor is still in the flagship location and is still being used today.
I’ve often thought about what it would be like to spend time with my great grandmother as an adult…how fun it would be to step back in time and go peruse the designer millinery shop on the second floor and have lunch with her at the MB Rendevous Restaurant. Those days of extravagance are long gone for most but it is fun to daydream about shopping in such a store.
Hope y’all had a happy International Women’s Day yesterday! Never heard of it? Here’s a little backstory:
In the spirit of this holiday, I thought I’d share an inspiring article I came across the other day. Entitled “They Made Main Street Their Own: How Four Women Revived a Derelict Mississippi Town,” this article is about how four women in small town Mississippi, Water Valley to be exact, have changed their main street for the better. The ladies of the article, Megan Patton, Coulter Fussell, Erin Austen Abbott and Alexe van Beuren, are part of a new group of business owners in Water Valley, Mississippi.
The town experienced steady growth in the early twentieth century and was booming by the 1920’s. Water Valley was a central railroad center for the surrounding agricultural community. After the railroad industry slowed down by the 1950s and the agricultural industry moved towards more of a timber focus, Water Valley, was largely left abandoned.
In recent years, the main street has gone from 18 storefront vacancies to 6, largely due to the drive of these four women. “All are particularly skilled at renovation, having stripped and rebuilt, among them, three houses and one storefront. That their husbands are in the music business and on the road for months at a time has only accelerated their prowess with hand tools.” They saw an opportunity to purchase affordable real-estate (houses and commercial buildings) that could be easily rehabilitated and they took it. By doing so, Water Valley has been given a new life.
One of my favorite buildings that has been adaptively reused is the B.T.C. Old Fashioned Grocery.
photo courtesy of Suzassippi's Blogspot
It is located in a 140 year old building on main street that Ms. van Beuren and her husband rescued from a developer that was planning to raze the building. The renovations took three years, and by May of 2010, the couple opened their old fashioned grocery.
Just another small-town grocery… where the food tastes like it used to: is the motto of the unique grocery and cafe. They sell locally produced as often as possible (visit their where we get our food page) and have an in house bakery and cafe.
After studying historic preservation for two years and constantly hearing about how difficult it is to get people motivated to rehabilitate versus demolition and adaptively reusing buildings, it is so refreshing and inspiring to see that it CAN be done and done well. Gonna need to make a visit!
For more info on this story check out the NY times article. PS if you like interior design, antiques, furniture, etc, check out the extra images in the article. You can see snapshots of their restored homes and these ladies have excellent taste.
Em's on the road 