Penn Jeffries Krouse (September 23, 1877–April 1944), usually known as P. J. Krouse was a prolific architect in the state of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Many of his buildings were located in the Meridian area.

Personal life

Penn Jeffries Krouse was born on September 23, 1877, to parents Adrian Zick Krouse and Ann Ruben Jeffries. Krouse had three children with his wife, Martha Rebecca Dillehay: Adrian Alonzo, Charles Dabbs, and Emily Bonner. Emily was born in Meridian on August 29, 1909, and died in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

on September 7, 2003. Her funeral services were held at

First Presbyterian Church of Meridian First Presbyterian Church of Meridian is a historic church in Meridian, Mississippi, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The church was founded in 1856 by eight members including John T. Ball and Lewis A. Ragsdale, foun ...

, a church which her father designed. Charles would later become an architect himself. P.J. and Martha later divorced, and P.J. married Katherine Barham. Krouse was a member of the

Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the S ...

subgroup of

Freemasonry Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

.Jody Cook. February 1979. "State of Mississippi Historic Sites Survey: Scottish Rite Cathedral" He was also appointed as the chairman of the War Price and Rationing Administration during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. His health deteriorated during his time as chairman, forcing him to resign. He died in April 1944.

Projects

Buildings designed by Krouse span a wide range of architectural styles including

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

, Gothic Revival,

Egyptian Revival Egyptian Revival is an architectural style that uses the motifs and imagery of ancient Egypt. It is attributed generally to the public awareness of ancient Egyptian monuments generated by Napoleon's conquest of Egypt and Admiral Nelson's defeat ...

, Beaux Arts, and

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

. Krouse designed buildings in Meridian and

Laurel, Mississippi Laurel is a city in and the second county seat of Jones County, Mississippi, Jones County, Mississippi, United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 17,161. It is located northeast of Ellisville, M ...

, as well as courthouses in Clarke, Jones, Yalobusha,

Lauderdale Lauderdale is the valley of the Leader Water (a tributary of the Tweed) in the Scottish Borders. It contains the town of Lauder, as well as Earlston. The valley is traversed from end to end by the A68 trunk road, which runs from Darlington to ...

, and

Pearl River County Pearl River County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The population was 55,834 at the 2010 census. Its county seat is Poplarville. Pearl River County comprises the Picayune, MS Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is inc ...

. Many buildings Krouse designed or helped to design are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

Works

* Bobo Senior High School Building – 131 School St., Clarksdale, NRHP-listed * Clarke County Courthouse and Confederate Monument – Archusa St. at head of Main St., Quitman, NRHP-listed *

– 911 23rd Ave., Meridian, NRHP-listed * Jones County Courthouse – Ellisville, NRHP-listed * Alex Loeb Building – 2115 5th St., Meridian, NRHP-listed * Masonic Temple – 1220 26th Ave., Meridian, NRHP-listed *

Meridian City Hall City Hall in Meridian, Mississippi in the United States is located at 601 24th Avenue. Originally designed by architect P.J. Krouse in 1915, the building underwent several renovations during the 1950s that diminished the historic quality of the bui ...

– 601 24th Ave., Meridian, NRHP-listed as ''Municipal Building'' * Stevenson Primary School – 1015 25th Ave., Meridian, NRHP-listed * U.S. Post Office and Courthouse – 2100 9th St., Meridian, NRHP-listed * Scottish Rite Cathedral (1914), which was listed on the National Register until it was destroyed by fire in 1985. *Former Beth Israel synagogue (1906) of the Congregation Beth Israel of Meridian. This was a

octagonal synagogue built in 1906. It was used until 1964 and subsequently demolished. *One or more buildings in NRHP-listed

Laurel Central Historic District The Laurel Central Historic District is a historic district in Laurel, Mississippi, U.S. It includes 369 governmental, commercial, religious and residential buildings designed in the Neoclassical, Shingle, Queen Anne, Bungalow, and American C ...

, roughly bounded by Tenth and Thirteenth Sts., First Ave., Seventh and Fifth Sts., and Eighth Ave., Laurel *One or more buildings in NRHP-listed Meridian Downtown Historic District, roughly bounded by Twenty-Sixth Ave., Eighteenth Ave., Sixth St., and Front St., Meridian * Margaret Martin High School *Newton County Courthouse (1912) (5th) in Decatur, Mississippihttp://www.courthouses.co/us-states/m/mississippi/newton-county/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krouse, P.J. People from Meridian, Mississippi Lauderdale County, Mississippi Architects from Mississippi