Dedicated “to the memory of those who fell in the service of their country by land and by sea,” this classically inspired two-story U-shaped building encloses three sides of a central court entered through a double colonnade. All the architects listed on the plaque were World War I veterans, including principal designer E. L. Malvaney. Built with state and Public Works Administration (PWA) funds, the building originally housed offices for the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Adjutant General’s Office, and the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
The concrete and steel building is clad in Indiana limestone, and its hard right angles are relieved by chamfered corners. Two bas-relief sculptural groups by New Orleans artist Albert Rieker depict a soldier in battle, winning peace, and returning home. The faces of four military men in classical and Egyptian headdresses look out from the capitals of the west facade’s square columns. Beyond, the Court of Honor contains a marble cenotaph; text inscribed on the frieze was composed by Garner James of the State Advertising Commission. Another colonnade at the court’s east end shelters three pairs of aluminum doors that feature Rieker’s etchings of historical implements of war.
The exuberant marble and terrazzo Art Deco lobby contrasts with the somber exterior: aluminum plaques celebrate the industry and agriculture of Mississippi, and plaster cornices feature magnolia blossoms. Aluminum elevator doors (1946) memorialize the veterans of World War II in a design by local architect Preston Waldrup. A semicircular auditorium at the rear is decorated with stars and eagles and is available for public functions.
Housing the state archives across E. Amite Street at 200 North Street, the William F. Winter Archives and History Building (2003, ECD Architects) adopts the War Memorial’s front colonnade and limestone veneer.