The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Edward Blackmon Administration Building

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Edward Blackmon Administration Building, Tougaloo College

Institution Name: Tougaloo College
Original/Historic Place Name: Judson Cross Hall
Location on Campus: historic core of campus
Date(s) of Construction and Designer(s):

1947	original construction Hull, Emmett J.
2002	restoration Unknown

Type of Place: Individual building
Style(s): (Glossary)
Materials:

Foundation: concrete

Walls: wood (frame); vinyl siding

Roof: fiberglass shingle

Function:

1947-2001	residence hall (women)
2002-present (2007)	administration

Significance: architecture, culture, education, history
Landmark designation:

National Register

Tougaloo College (1998)

Narrative: see below
References: see below

Narrative:
The Edward Blackmon Administration Building, originally known as Judson Cross Hall, presently serves as the College's main administration building. The two-story wood frame structure, with lap siding and a hipped roof with asphalt shingles, served as a ladies dormitory until 2002. A central portico projects from the facade covered by a gabled roof that is supported by box columns. There is a decorative plaster motif in the gable end. The centrally located entrance is a modern door with a 3-light transom and a broken pediment above, supported by two pilasters.

This building received a major renovation in 2002 and is presently in very good condition. However, minor structural repairs to the northeast corner of the building's foundation, not adequately addressed in the renovation, are required.

References:

I. Bibliographic sources:

Campbell, Clarice T., and Oscar Allan Rogers, Jr. Mississippi: The View from Tougaloo. Jackson, MS: University of Mississippi Press, 1979 and 2002.

Campus Planning and Development Assessment [Tougaloo College]. National Park Service report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1989.

Dixon, John Morris. "How to Grow a Campus: 1. Tougaloo College." Architectural Forum 124 (April 1966): 56-60.

Historical Sketch of Tougaloo University: Tougaloo, Mississippi. [s.l.:] American Missionary Association, 1909.

Mayo, Amory Dwight. Industrial Education in the South. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1888.

Mississippi State Building Commission. "Physical Facilities, Institutions of Higher Learning, State of Mississippi, Public and Private Institutions." Report. 1967-1968.

"Negro." WPA Records, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS.

"Tougaloo College." WPA Records, Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS.

U.S. Congress. House Committee on Natural Resources. Historically Black Colleges and Universities Historic Building Restoration and Preservation Act: Report Together with Dissenting Views (To Accompany H.R. 2921) (Including Cost Estimate of the Congressional Budget Office.) [Washington DC: Government Printing Office, 1993.]

Wise, Deborah G. Tougaloo College Historic District. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1998.

II. Location of other data:

University: Library, Special Collections, Facilities Management Office

SHPO

Government Offices

Other: Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, MS