| A hip-roofed, wood-frame Greek Revival cottage, with a pedimented portico that shelters the central three bays of the five-bay façade, Magnolia Vale is a significant example of a Mississippi Greek Revival plantation residence. This significance derives from its architectural distinction, its long history of family ownership, and from its outstanding collection of original decorative arts. Magnolia Vale differs in its architectural form from the usual Mississippi plantation house, which is often characterized as a one-and-a-half-story frame residence with gabled roof and recessed gallery. The house is a one-story dwelling set beneath a hipped roof with a three-bay, hipped-roof portico. The house achieves a degree of architectural sophistication from its fully molded entablature which completely encircles all elevations of the house and is supported at each corner by pilasters, which like the square columns and pilasters of the portico, are elaborated with Gothic-arched panels. The house was listed on the National Register on 17 November 1983 from a nomination prepared by Mimi Miller. |