Larry Albert

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R ESPECTS THE P AST , STORY BY ROBYN JACKSON PHOTOS COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES BUILDS FOR THE FUTURE 30 • south mississippi scene LARRY ALBERT A RCHITECT, E NTREPRENEUR , H UMANITARIAN

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Winter 2008 South Mississippi Scene Magazine www.smscene.com

Transcript of Larry Albert

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RESPECTS THE PAST,

STORY BY ROBYN JACKSONPHOTOS COURTESY ALBERT & ASSOCIATES

BUILDS FOR THEFUTURE

30 • south mississippi scene

LARRY ALBERTARCHITECT, ENTREPRENEUR, HUMANITARIAN

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HATTIESBURG CONVENTION CENTER

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Architecture became Albert’s passion when he was a student atHattiesburg High School in 1970 and took a drafting class that would

change his life.

Larry Albert has emerged asone of Mississippi’s top archi-tects, thanks to his deft touchat combining traditional, icon-ic design with modern aesthet-ics.

“Larry is very important,he’s done a lot of outstandingwork,” said Ken P’Pool,deputy state historic preserva-tion officer with theMississippi Department ofArchives and History. “Wework with a lot of fine archi-tects, but I don’t know if I’veever met a finer individualthan Larry. A lot of peopleprobably don’t know howmuch free work he does forthese projects.”

Albert brings a sense ofplace to his designs, whetherhe’s restoring an old buildingor designing something newand modern, said BetsyRowell, executive director ofthe Historic HattiesburgDowntown Association.

“He builds buildings thatare people places, that we canbe proud of for generations,”Rowell said. “He’s able to cap-ture something with his build-ings.”

She points to the contem-porary, cutting edge design ofthe Mississippi Crafts Center,which sits next to the NatchezTrace in Ridgeland, as anexample.”It’s a modern build-

ing, but it becomes part of theland. It becomes part of theNatchez Trace. You look outthe back of it and you just feelthe history of the state.”

Hattiesburg-based Albert& Associates has done a num-ber of high-profile, award-win-ning restorations, such as thePerry County Courthouse, andnew projects, including theMississippi School of the ArtsStudent Life Center inBrookhaven, the Library ofHattiesburg, Petal and ForrestCounty, the Lake TerraceConvention Center and theTrent Lott Center, which isunder construction at theUniversity of Southern

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TRENT LOTT CENTER

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Mississippi. But it’s his restora-tion of Beauvoir, the last homeof Confederate PresidentJefferson Davis, that could behis crowning glory. The Biloxilandmark, which was built in1852 and purchased by Davis 14years later, was almost washedaway by Hurricane Katrina onAug. 29, 2005, and is one of thefew historical structures on theMississippi Gulf Coast to sur-vive the storm.

“That’s a very difficult proj-ect, but Larry and his staff havedone an excellent job,” P’Poolsaid. “It was obvious, when wesaw there was extreme damage,we knew it would be a massiveproject.”

Albert had started restoringBeauvoir in 1990, doing thework bit by bit as moneybecame available. “We had justa little more painting and itwould have been finished,” hesaid.

He was one of the first non-

emergency workers alloweddown to the beachfront in thedays after Katrina.

“I went on Sept. 9. The 8thwas the first day my companygot power back. The governor’soffice faxed us a pass. I remem-ber telling my wife if there wasanything left, it will be saved.”

Albert was shocked by thedamage. Five of the seven out-buildings on the 52-acre prop-erty, including the cottages thatflanked the raised main house,and the old hospital that hadbuilt for Confederate veteransand was later turned into amuseum, were washed away.The main house remained, butthe wrap-around porches andgraceful front staircase weregone. Eight inches of waterinside the main house had leftmold and stripped away paintfrom the handpainted wallmurals. Irreplaceable artifacts,including some of Davis’ manu-scripts, were swept back into

the sound by the storm surge.“I was devastated,” Albert

recalls. “I literally was crying tosee how much devastation therewas.”

But instead of giving up,Albert said he got his steam upand got to work rebuilding theantebellum structure andrepainting the murals. Workersinstalled stainless steel bracesand rods to make the structureeven stronger. He said the $4million project, which has got-ten national news coverage,should be completed by the endof the year.

“It’s going to be nicer andmore authentic than it’s been inmy lifetime,” Albert said. “Wemade it back like whenJefferson Davis lived in it.”

Architecture becameAlbert’s passion when he was astudent at Hattiesburg HighSchool in 1970 and took a draft-ing class that would change hislife.

LAMAR COUNTY COURTHOUSE PERRY COUNTY COURTHOUSE

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personalities: larry albertcontributors

“My mom wanted me to bea doctor,” said Albert, who waseven president of the Pre-MedClub at Hattiesburg High. Butwhen his drafting teacher toldhim that he’d never seen any-one catch on as fast as Alberthad, he began to envision acareer as an architect.

“It was a God-given gift,”Albert said, adding that he wasallowed to teach art classes tojuniors and seniors at the highschool even though he was stilla student there himself.Surprisingly, his classmatesrespected him. “At the time, itall seemed very natural,” hesaid, chuckling about theimprobability of such a thinghappening today.

Albert studied art at the

University of SouthernMississippi for a year but hismother encouraged him tobecome an architect so he couldmake a living. About that timeMississippi State Universityopened its School ofArchitecture, and Albertbecame the first student to earnan architecture degree fromMSU, in 1978.

Albert served an internshipfrom 1978-81 with Jackson-based Barlow and Plunkett,which was one of the largestarchitectural firms inMississippi, and then moved toHouston, Texas, to work foranother firm for four yearsbefore opening his own firm.Eventually, though, he decidedto return to his hometown of

Hattiesburg, although his wife,Gail, and children were not sohappy about leaving the bigcity and all its attractions.

“I dragged my wife andchildren back,” Albert said.“They loved Houston. Theythought we had moved to thepodunkest town.”

In Houston, Albert wasworking on “glitzy glass tow-ers,” but he wanted to restorehistoric buildings and designnew structures that reflectedthe past, and opened Albert &Associates in 1995. It now has13 full-time employees, includ-ing senior architect ChrisRobinson, construction admin-istrators Jimmy Stewart andRandy McCaffery, project archi-tect Sarah Newton, landscape

MS CRAFT CENTERPHOTO BY ALAN KARCHMER

HATTIESBURG PUBLIC LIBRARY

WOODLAND HILLS PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHHATTIESBURG, MS

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designer Sally Hughes, designvisualization artist Bo Howard,intern architect Sean Bensley,and office manager Janet Wade.

“We have the best talent inthe state,” Albert said, “and Ithink our track record speaksfor itself.”

One of the most obviousexamples of his design philoso-phy is the new Hattiesburglibrary on Hardy Street, whichwon the Governor’s Award forExcellence in the Arts for itsdesign in 1997. The curving,double staircase at the back ofthe main room of that buildingis a replica of the stairs on theoutside of the original libraryon Main Street, which is nowthe Hattiesburg CulturalCenter. The massive red tileroof and huge, arched windowsrecall the old library, and theMississippi Tower on the frontright corner pays homage to thebell tower at Bay StreetPresbyterian Church.

“I spent a lot of time in theold building and had a love forit,” he said.

“He’s an excellent architectin new design,” P’Pool said.“He’s very sensitive in pickingup on icons in the communitythat have meaning, so there’s acertain continuity of design.These are projects that are total-ly new design, but that fit theirneed in the community.”

Hattiesburg’s Lake TerraceConvention Center is anotherexample of this, Rowell said. “Ifyou look at that building, yousee elements of buildings allover Hattiesburg. He really cap-tures the community.”

Albert said you can see arendering of the dome of theUSM Administration Building,which was designed by Coastarchitect Vinson Smith, near theentrance to the convention cen-ter. The iconic design had a biginfluence on him.

“I had just finished the ren-ovation of the Aubrey LucasAdministration Building,”Albert said. “The profile of thedome is on the front of the con-vention center. I have respectfor those old heritage icons.”

The Trent Lott Center atUSM also includes iconic ele-ments and classic architecturaldesign, but Albert said he is“modernizing the heck out ofit.”

Albert, who has served twoterms as president of theHattiesburg DowntownAssociation, was named BestDesign Professional in 2007 bythe Mississippi Main StreetAssociation because of his workrestoring several buildings indowntown Hattiesburg, includ-ing the 1905 Bufkin-CadenheadBuilding, which houses hisfirm, and the former RoseberryPiano House, where wife Gail’sA Gallery is now located.

“He has been a huge sup-porter of downtown develop-ment,” Rowell said. “He reallyis committed. He’s terrific towork with. When he’s commit-ted to something, he’s passion-ate about it.”

Albert said his favorite proj-ect is the Salvation Armychapel in Hattiesburg, but he isalso proud of the atrium of the

BEAUVOIR, BILOXI MS

SAENGER THEATREHATTIEBURG, MS

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Trent Lott Center.“It’s one of those spaces

that’s real simple in that it’scircular, but it’s got a sus-pended glass staircase.”With the building stillunder construction, he’sonly seen it come togetherin bits and pieces. The ter-razzo tile floor has beenlaid, he said, but it’s nowcovered by plywood to pro-tect it as construction con-tinues. “It’s like seeing eachlittle piece of it comealive,” he said.

One of Albert &Associates’ next big proj-ects is the renovation of theold Hattiesburg HighSchool on Main Street,which was gutted by anarsonist’s fire in 2007. It

was slated to become thehome of the Southern Missart department. All thatremains now is the brickshell of the building.

P’Pool calls that project“Herculean,” but adds thatit can be done. “Those whoreally understand historicbuildings and how they’reput together, it’s not aprocess that we back upfrom at all. Larry’s thatkind of person.”

Rowell said she has nodoubt Albert will get thejob done, and that thebuilding will inspire pridein Hattiesburg residents.

“He doesn’t build abuilding for a few years, hebuilds it for a hundredyears,” Rowell said.

OFFICE OF ALBERT & ASSOCIATESHATTIEBURG, MS

THAD COCHRAN CENTERUNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MSPHOTO BY HUBERT WORLEY

SALVATION ARMY CHAPELHATTIESBURG, MS

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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPIADMINISTRATION BUILDING