King Edward Hotel (Jackson, MS, USA)

The King Edward Hotel is a historic hotel in downtown Jackson, Mississippi. The second of two buildings located on the site at the corner of Capitol and Mill Streets, it was closed and vacant for nearly 40 years before renovations began in 2006.

The original hotel on the site was known as the Confederate House, built by "Major" R.O. Edwards. After being destroyed in the Civil War, the hotel was reopened in 1867 as the Edwards House. This structure was replaced in 1923 by the present building, a 12 story beige brick structure, designed in the Beaux-Arts architecture style by New Orleans architect William Nolan. The hotel was the center of Jackson society and politics for over forty years.

A room at the hotel was used by Okeh Records to record a number of important blues sessions in December 1930.[1]

In 1955, the hotel was purchased by R.E. "Dumas" Milner, a supposedly flamboyant automobile dealer. Milner renovated the hotel in the popular modernist style of the day. Many of the original details were obscured in the renovations. The hotel closed in 1967 after years of declining occupancy rates and has remained vacant since. Standard Life bought the building in 1976 and got it placed on the National Register of Historic Places. They sold to private developers for half a million dollars in 1981. [2] While a number of attempts to restore the building had proven ineffective and demolition of the building continued to be considered by Jackson city leadership[3], a workable plan was finally agreed upon. The former Mayor of Jackson, Harvey Johnson Jr., called the renovation of the hotel the "linchpin" [sic] in attempts to revitalize the downtown of the city.[4]

As of December 2006, the Watkins Partners, New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister and Historic Restoration Inc. of New Orleans have formed a partnership to restore the King Edward. It is expected to reopen its doors in 2008 with 152 hotel rooms, 38 luxury condominiums, first-class office space, shops and restaurants. The complex will also include a health club, Deuce's Powerhouse, in the former power plant. An operator for the hotel has not yet been announced, but it is expected that a major hotel company will operate the hotel. H.R.I. and the Watkins Partners also plan to renovate the adjacent Standard Life Building into condominiums in 2007.