October 11, 2019 – April 19, 2020
Architecture is generally defined as the art and science of designing structures (buildings) and urban spaces. Such design, of necessity, reflects the social and cultural values of people and their collective sense of place and community.
This exhibition, organized by the Mobile Museum of Art with guest curator and architectural historian, Cart Blackwell, explores the architectural history of this extraordinary community—one of the twenty oldest continuously inhabited cities in the United States. Presented through a selective timeline of photographs, models, architectural plans, maps, elevations, building materials, videotaped interviews and tours, and publications—the exhibition documents the changing social and cultural story of its places and people over a period of centuries, spanning Mobile’s unique and long history.
The exhibition’s development is guided by architectural historian, Cartledge Blackwell III, with several consulting historians and curators, including Joycelyn Finley, Paige Largue, Tom McGehee, Stephen McNair, Philip Carr and John Sledge. Additional support is provided by Mobile area architects Douglas Kearley and Nick Holmes III.