Early 1900s House styles

The French colonists developed the Creole Cottage, the earliest house form designed in the area that would become the state of Mississippi. Drawing by Richard Cawthon. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

The De La Point-Krebs house in Pascagoula, Mississippi, built around 1770, is a good example of the Creole Cottage, and is the earliest surviving building in the lower Mississippi River Valley. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Anglo-American settlers introduced the vernacular I-House form to Mississippi. Drawing by Richard Cawthon. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Drawings of the vernacular Planter’s Cottage, the most common house form found on many Mississippi plantations. Drawing by Richard Cawthon. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Auburn, a suburban villa built near Natchez about 1812, is an example of the Federal style. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Ravenna, a Greek Revival house in Natchez, was built in 1835. The Greek Revival architectural style is the one most often associated with the antebellum South. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

The Commercial Bank in Natchez, built in 1836, in the only Greek Revival structure in Mississippi with a real marble facade. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Grace Episcopal Church in Canton, Mississippi, is an example of Gothic Revival, a style that was used primarily in Mississippi for churches. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Airliewood in Holly Springs, Mississippi, is a fine example of a Gothic Revival house. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

The Tate County Courthouse in Senatobia, Mississippi, is built in the Romanesque style. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Rosedale in Columbus, Mississippi, is an antebellum Italianate style house. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Many Mississippians combined the Greek Revival style with Gothic Revival and Italianate to produce an eclectic style. Shadowlawn in Columbus, Mississippi, is eclectic style. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

Houses built in the Victorian Vernacular style often had the L-shape floor plan. Drawing by Richard Cawthon. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

The Schwartz House in Natchez is Second Empire style. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

The Keyhole House in Natchez is among the many houses in the Queen Anne style. Courtesy Mississippi Department of Archives and History.

The study of historic architectural styles provides us a unique way to learn how our ancestors lived and worked, how and what they built, and what they thought about themselves and their society as expressed in their buildings. Mississippi has a wide variety of architectural styles. Here is an overview of them.

Vernacular style

Vernacular architecture is a traditional form of building that reflects local environmental influences, uses locally available building materials, and is passed down from generation to generation. The earthen mounds built by prehistoric native peoples are Mississippi’s oldest examples of vernacular architecture, if architecture is defined simply as structures built by humans. The mounds were elevated bases for either temples or homes of tribal leaders, or they may have served as elevated ceremonial platforms. Winterville Mounds near Greenville and Emerald Mound near Natchez are two of the best examples of prehistoric structures in Mississippi.

European colonists built the oldest surviving buildings in the area that would become the state of Mississippi. Timber was plentiful and early buildings in Mississippi were constructed with heavy timber framing...