Doing Deco, Y'All, in Jackson

Throughout the sleepy city center, we discovered skyscrapers of medium size (18 stories or less) but impressive scale. The geometric, earth-toned Plaza Building (120 N. Congress) looms on the east side of Smith Park with the panache of New York's Dakota. Nearby, the gleaming white neo-Gothic Lamar Life Building (315 E. Capitol St.) rises 10 stories to a clock tower that looks a lot like London's Big Ben. The citizens of Jackson still set their watches by that clock, the glass discolored by nearly 80 winters.

The 1929 Standard Life Building (206 W. Pearl St.), now the offices of city bureaucrats, dominates a corner of Roach and Pearl streets. Its step-pyramid silhouette is echoed in ziggurat-shape windows and parapets. We entered an eye-popping foyer of chevrons and stripes and then a mirrored, marble lobby. Terrazzo floor diamonds pointed us toward a pair of elevators where a pleasant man stood ready (is this 1930?) to be our "operator."

Heading east to State Street, we arrived at Jackson's purest example of deco style -- the 1939 War Memorial building (Old Capitol Green). Dedicated to Mississippi veterans of all wars, the building features a lobby marked by massive pink marble columns, floors of gridded stars and "fountain" lights worthy of a Great Gatsby drawing room. The entry courtyard packs a punch -- three gleaming cast-aluminum doors, each with octagonal coffers of translucent glass.

And that neon greyhound? We found it glowing red, white and blue (it's lit nightly till midnight) high on the marquee of the former Greyhound bus terminal (219 Lamar St.). The bright blue 1937 landmark witnessed the comings and goings of Freedom Riders during protest days. Now architect Robert Parker Adams, who says he also dates from 1937, has restored the building as his office. "Sometimes people drop off their kin to catch the bus, so one of us will drive them over to the new station." Others happen in, too, intrigued by the glass brick entry or the vintage pinball machine and greyhound oculus inside.

Longtime resident Adams points out that "Jackson never had real highs or lows during the Great Depression. And the war years brought a boom with military bases and manufacturing." That prosperity affected several neighborhoods, now preservation zones like the Farish Street Entertainment District, an African American community struggling to preserve its character. The deco destination there is the Alamo Theatre (333 N. Farish St.), a movie palace-turned-concert hall. Bright blue letters shout "ALAMO" from atop its streamlined marquee.

To reach up-and-coming Fondren, head north on North State Street (about 2 1/2 miles from the present-day Capitol). Some of Fondren's prime sites date from deco times -- Brent's Drugs (655 Duling Ave.) , with a period soda fountain; Woodland Hills Shopping Center, from the early 1940s (Duling Street); the in-renewal Pix Theatre (3021 N. State St.), with a starburst terrazzo floor; and Walker's Drive-In (3016 N. State St.). Many consider this last stop the city's best restaurant. Chef-owner Derek Emerson gave the former drive-up cafe a bright turquoise paint job but kept two doors with porthole windows.

Adams lives just east of Fondren in Woodland Hills, and his house, Fountainhead, merits a drive-by (but don't knock). Even though it's almost invisible nestled against a slope in a wooded glen, its low copper roof and slab chimneys declare "Frank Lloyd Wright." Yes, the great architect designed it (though he never came here) for a "wildcat" oilman named J. Willis Hughes. It's an intriguing, admittedly high-maintenance house that Adams says "just grows out of the ground." He relishes its outer walls angled to match the slope, its Prairie roof and interior walls aligned as parallelograms, and the gate, composed of triangles on a matrix of bars. "It's subliminal, but there are no 90-degree angles." (To find the house: Go north on Old Canton Road, then right on Glenway to No. 306.)

South of Fondren, the Belhaven district touts its architectural variety and history. Eudora Welty spent most of her life at 1119 Pinehurst St. in a 1925 Tudor Revival house. After a restoration overseen by Adams, it's to be a "literary house museum." Nearby, at 807 Pinehurst, a 1939 Art Moderne house showcases its original owner's source of income -- glass bricks.

The most impressive deco-era structure in Belhaven is the Bailey Magnet School (1900 N. State St.). Architect N.W. Overstreet made the cover of a 1938 Life magazine for the school's forward look and his revolutionary technique of formed-in-place concrete. But the real drama is in the details; flanking the front steps are carved stone reliefs of Andrew Jackson (the city's namesake) with his troops and Chief Pushmataha with his braves, allies in the Indian wars. On a schoolday, visitors can enter terrazzoed halls and a lofty auditorium with ornate columns and a stylized horse-and-rider sculpture.

Jean Lawlor Cohen is editor of Where Washington magazine.

Details: Art Deco in Jackson, Miss.

GETTING THERE: There are no nonstop flights from Washington to Jackson. Most major airlines fly there, including Delta (via Atlanta) and US Airways (via Charlotte, N.C.) , with rates from about $240 round trip.

WHERE TO EAT: The Edison-Walthall Hotel tearoom (225 E. Capitol St.) serves catfish three ways and slow-baked potatoes. Hal & Mal's Restaurant & Brewery (200 S. Commerce) is popular with locals for po' boys, blue plate specials and catfish, plus live music. The Mayflower Cafe (123 W. Capitol St.)), with deco pediment and neon, is a favorite of pols for shucked oysters, red fish, Greek salad, Gulf crab and "Come-Back" dressing. Walker's Drive-In (3016 N. State St.) is a vintage cafe with burgers, turkey tamales, plate lunches and p.m. entrees ($22 to $30), such as Louisiana soft shells and scallops with risotto.

THE EXHIBIT: "Paris Moderne" runs through Sept. 6 at the Mississippi Museum of Art (201 E. Pascagoula St. at Lamar, 866-VIEW-ART, www.msmuseumart.org). Admission is $10.

INFORMATION: Jackson Convention & Visitors Bureau, 800-354-7695, www.visitjackson.com.

-- Jean Lawlor Cohen