Location Information
(for the Orr Building)
Name:Orr Building
Address:Mississippi University for Women
City/County:Columbus, Lowndes County
Architectural Information
Construction Date:1885
Architectural Styles(s):Gothic Revival, Queen Anne
No. of Stories:3.5
Remodeling Date:CA1963
Registration Information
NR District Name:South Columbus (1982)
    NR Status:Contributing
    Element No.:497
NR District Name:South Columbus Amendment No. 2 (Boundary Increase/Decrease) (2021)
    NR Status:Contributing
    Element No.:449 B
Mississippi Landmark Information
Designated:03-05-1986
Recorded:04-15-1986
Book/Vol. No.:V. 772, p. 200
Context/Comments
Like its older companion Callaway Hall, Orr Building is significant for its use of the Gothic Revival style for a multi-story institutional building. It is an outstanding example of the use of terra cotta and pressed brick for ornamentation. The tower with its weather vane compliments and further serves as a landmark for the campus.

It was listed as a contributing element (element #497) in the South Columbus Historic District, which was placed on the National Register in 1982. When that district was resurveyed and enlarged as the South Columbus Historic District Amendment No. 2 (which was added to the National Register 29 September 2021) this building was included in the enlarged district as element #449B (previously listed/contributing). It was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1986.

The Orr Building is included in "The State of Mississippi – Historic Properties" (1982) (p. 16) and "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (p.188, in the listing for Mississippi University for Women, PR32).
Brief Description
Three story Victorian Gothic structure of load-bearing masonry construction built on a raised basement. This multii-gabled brick building has a three story gable roof pavilion with a large lancet window of intersecting tracery with colored glass on the North and West elevations. These windows have brick arches with limestone keystones. The remaining windows are 1/1 double hung with brick flat arches and 1/1 , double hung lancet arch windows. There is a three story square tower surmounted by an octagonal lantern with a spire roof. The building has pressed brick. brick colored banding including belt courses and a water table. and ornamental terra cotta tile banding. Above the entrance is a limestone tablet with carved projections reading "Mississippi Female Industrial Institution and College". Half piers project at the corners and at the tops of the gables with terra cotta pinnacles surmounted. A terra cotta owl, the school's symbol of knowledge sits on the roof's edge of the front facade.
Historic Information
Completed in 1885 and is the second oldest building on the campus. The city donated the structure to the school when Industrial Institute and College opened in 1884. It served as the Administration Chapel Building until 1928. In 1939-40 the first floor was renovated and the second floor was repaired in 1953-54. In 1963, the original roof structure was replaced and the chapel balcony was removed. The first floor was reinforced in 1978 to accommodate M.U.W. Museum and Archives. New roof installed in 1982. Included in the archival files are the documentary collections of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Authority which occupy an entire room. The building was heavily damaged in the tornado that struck Columbus on Nov. 10, 2002. Vacant as of 2016.