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| Address: | 2218-2224 5th Street |
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| City/County: | Meridian, Lauderdale County |
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| Architectural Styles(s): | Modern |
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| Destroyed: | demolished by MSU, Dec 2014 |
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| NR District Name: | Meridian Urban Center (1979) |
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| NR Status: | Non-Contributing |
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| NR District Name: | Meridian Downtown (2007) |
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| MPS: | Historic Resources of Meridian |
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| Local District Name: | Meridian Historic Downtown |
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| click here for additional information on this district. |
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From the Mississippi Landmark Significance Report, September 16, 2014, by Jennifer Baughn, MDAH:
This one-and-a-story commercial structure, situated on a corner, fills in the L created by the Kress Building in downtown Meridian. Mississippi State University owns the entire block, which also includes the Grand Opera House and Marks-Rothenberg Building. MSU is about to undertake a renovation of the L-shaped Kress Building and has requested a demolition permit for the Dabit Building, intending to use the lot for construction equipment.
Built c. 1958, the Dabit Building’s significance derives from its corner location within a dense urban district and from its Modernist design, especially its three highly intact storefronts, which are unusual in downtown Meridian. Modernist buildings rely on strong geometric forms and use functional features, such as these aluminum and Roman brick storefronts, as ornament. The building’s significance is heightened due to the demolition that has occurred in downtown Meridian, leaving this block as one of the few that still has all of its buildings. Once the state’s most dense urban environment, this area was listed on the National Register in the 126-resource Meridian Urban Center Historic District in 1979, but when it was re-surveyed in 2003, it had lost 25% of its buildings. Since that survey, another eleven buildings have been demolished, leaving the district with only 68% of the structures that stood in 1979. Each building demolished leaves yet another pockmark in the streetscape, and the demolition of a corner building creates two incomplete blocks.
Although a Mississippi Landmark Significance Report was prepared in 2014, the building was not designated a Mississippi Landmark |
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| This one-and-a-half-story Modernist commercial building occupies a corner lot in downtown Meridian. This lot and the adjoining parcel to the north now occupied by the Kress addition were occupied by the Great Southern Hotel until the early 1950s. The upper wall is clad in cast-concrete panels, while the lower wall is divided into three storefronts originally occupied by Cinderella Slipper Shop (2218), Casual Shop (2220), and Walgreens (2224). These storefronts all have Roman brick cladding, aluminum storefront windows, and terrazzo floor entrances, and the entrances on 2218 and 2220 are recessed between two deep showcase windows. The Walgreens (2224) entrance is under a chamfered corner supported by a lally column. The storefront at 2218 is the most highly developed, consisting of two projecting show windows on recessed bases. All three storefronts feature a retractable cloth awning hidden under a narrow aluminum cover. |
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