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S/wing
illeetillg1940
AN
ARCHITECTREVIEWSWITH
ARCHITECTURAL
49
FIVE
YEARSCONCRETE
ByNW.
OVERSTREET*,
A.
I.
A.,
and
A.
J.
BOASE**
M
R.UO,VSE':
S,iN
',v,ear,s
ag
;>
,
in,J,"ebr,uary,t.he
term
"architec,turalconcretewascomedoSIN
yearsagothis
month
I
startedout
tocompilethe
datafor
thefirstissueof
ARClIITECTUJLVL
CON
CRETE.
\Vhenitwas
puttogether
IfoundI
didn't
have
asingle
storyoutside
ofCalifornia.J
wired
here
andtherebut
couldpickup
nothing
on
the
drawing
boards
eastofthe
Rockv
Mountains,
Only
six
years
havepassed
and
ifthey
never
build
another
build-
ing
of
architectural
concrete
east
oftheRockies,wehave
enough
storiesto
runthat
magazine
for
four
solid
yearsandthen
haveto
turn
down
someofthe
architects
that
nowsendus
theirmaterial
voluntarily.\Ve
can't
say
that
allofthenew
buildings
in
theUnitedStatesare
of
architecturalconcrete
but
wecan
say
that
we
have
made
reasonable
progress.
During
that
time
there
has
beenone
architect
whoseemedtobe
getting
the
"feel"
of
concretein
buildings
alittle
better
than
most
ofthem.
That
wasMr.
N.\V.
Overstreet
of
Jackson,
Miss.
Mr.
Overstreet
isagoodold
farm
boy
from
the
state
oflVlissis-
sippi.
He
was
born
and
raised
thereand
went
toschool
through
the
eighth
grade
and
then,
likesome
of
therest
ofus,
had
to
quit
school.
He
becamea
carpenter.
Later
on,Iwingfired
with
ambition,he
signed
upat
what
is
now
Mississippi
State
College,
then
known
asMississippiA,
&
M.College
andgraduated
in
the
regulation
time
asan
engineer.
lIe
madesuch
an
outstanding
record
at
that
college
that
he
was
given
a
scholarship
atthe
University
ofIllinois.
He
attended
the
architectural
school
there
and
incluetimewas
graduated
asanarchitect.
After
graduatiou
he
was
employedinIllinois
and
in
theNorth
for
three
or
four
years
and
then
moved
back
to
Jackson.
establishedhisoffice
there
in1912
and
has
practiced
architecture
there
ever
smce.
There
seemstoheadifTerenceofopinionastowhy
Mr.
(her-
street
movedhackSouth.\VhenI
inquiredabout
itsomeof
them
saiditwashecauselVlississippiisthebestflshing
state
inthe
Union
*
Architect,Jackson.
M'is«
**
Manager.
Structura
l
Bureau.
F'CA,
50
PortlandCementAssociation
and
that
lVl
r.
Overstreet
was
the
best
fisherman.
He
is
one
of
these
fishermen
thatgrabs
a
rod
in
one
hand
and
a
frying
pan
in
the
otherand
hecooks
themwhere
he
gets
them.
Mr.
Overstreet,
asa
matter
of
fact,
is
famous
throughout
the
Southfor
his
ability
to
cook
fish.
Be
it
said
to1\lr.
Overstreet's
everlastingcreditthat
at
least
50
per
cent
of
themen
practicing
architecturetoday
in
Louisianaand
Mississippihave
either
been
under
his
tutelage
or
inhis
employ
and
those
gentlemen
refer
to
Mr.
Overstreet
as
theDean
and
look
tohim
for
leadership.
FIe
introduced
into
the
South
modern
and
functional
architecture,but
that
doesn't
mean
that
he
doesn'tknowtraditionaland
classical
architecture.As
a
matter
offact,he
has
used
them
both
many,many
Mr.Overstreet
uses
ornamentation
sparingly,relying
moreon
line
andmass
to
express
his
general
theme,asillustrated
by
the
Tupelo,
Miss.,
Elementary
School.
times
in
the
field.In
recentyears
he
hasintroduced
and
probably
developed
architectural
concrete
further
than
anv
otherman
in
theSouth.(Mr.
130ase
then
showed
on
lantern
slides
and
described
briefly
the
three
following
structures,
selected
fromamong
the
manyoutstanding
jobs
byl'vIr.
Overstreet.
Tupelov
Vliss.,
elementary
school:
Bailey
School,
Jackson,
Miss.:
Columbia,
High
School.
As
lVI
r.
Boasecompleted
showing
of
the
slides,Mr.
Overstreet
came
to
theplatforrn.)
MR.
()VERSTREET:
When
Iwasnotified
that
I
had
been
selected
Isaid
"I\
0,
sir,
1
don't
want
to
appearbefore
an
audience.
Iaman
architect.
I
get
nervedup.'
But
Ifinally
agreed
tobe
here.
thinkmore
of
cement
since
I
have
seenyoufellows,
this
representa-
Spring
tionofintelligent
and
finelcJokingmen.lwishtogoodnessl
had
a
cement
post
andreinforced
at
that,
toholdmewhileItalk.
MR.
BOASE:
.Mr.
Overstreet,
when
didyou
design
your
first
architectural
concrete
job?
The
architectural
effects
possible
by
skilful
handling
of
concretemassesareillustrated
in
the
Edward
L.
Bailey
School
at
Jackson,Miss.
l\I
R.
OVERSTREET:
w-n,
lVlr.Boase.about
1934.
;\lR.
BOASE:
Flowmanvhaveyoubuiltsince
then?
MR.
OVERSTREET:
vVe
have
built
about
20.
MR.
BOASE:
Twenty
buildings?
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