Mouldering Away: the Elks Club Lodge 148, Greenville, Mississippi

For at least 20 years, when I passed through Greenville, I admired this stately building at 504 Washington Avenue. The imposing structure of Greek temple appearance, like many banks of the era, was intended to convince viewers of classical architecture, permanence, and the prosperity of its proprietors/builders/owners.

Card 90710, Cooper Postcard Collection, Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH)  

Card 90936, Cooper Postcard Collection, MDAH.

Card 91689, Cooper Postcard Collection, MDAH

The 1906 Neoclassical-styled building is attributed to architect Patrick Henry Weathers, according to a Mississippi Department of Archives and History fact sheet.

The only recent information I could find was a 2016 article by Suzassippi in Preservation Mississippi about how Mississippi Action for Community Education (M.A.C.E), owner of the building, was trying to secure funding.

The grand entrance stairway is gone, replaced by two opposing narrow stairs under the overhang. The concrete limestone block lower surround was also removed for unknown reason. Let's hope this structure can be saved.

2014 photographs taken with a Fuji GW690II medium-format camera on Kodak Panatomic-X film, developed in Rodinal 1:50. I scanned the negatives with a Minolta Scan Multi medium format film scanner operated with Silverfast Ai software.

Update March 10, 2018: I drove by the Elks Club in the morning. A chain link fence in poor condition surrounds the property. Some of the plywood panels over the windows have fallen off. There is no indication of any repair or stabilization. Fate: unknown.