The Mississippi Museum of Art has acquired Fountainhead, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed property in Jackson’s Fondren neighborhood following approval by the Jackson Planning and Zoning Board and City Council. The residence and its furnishings were designed by the renowned architect in 1948, and completed in 1954 for J. Willis Hughes, who lived in the home with his family until 1980.
The single-family home was next purchased by the late architect Robert Parker Adams who spent years restoring it. In June, Crescent Sotheby’s International Realty listed the property. On the National Registry of Historic Places since 1980, it was originally named the Hughes House but is also known as Fountainhead because it is believed Ayn Rand’s novel “The Fountainhead” was based on Wright’s life. Also, due to the level changes afforded by the site’s sloping topography, Wright extended the bedroom wing into the landscape with a fountain that feeds into a swimming pool that, in turn, feeds into a stream.
Inspired by the success of institutions like Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and its acquisition of the Wright-designed Bachman-Wilson House, MMA leadership is expanding its mission by purchasing this significant architectural landmark and making it available to the public for tours with advanced reservations after extensive restorations. The purchase is part of our strategic goals to embed the Museum in neighborhoods across the city in ways that help accomplish their community building priorities.
MMA will begin work with architecture and restoration professionals to restore the home and fund a plan to maintain it properly into perpetuity. The property will be maintained and programmed under the Museum’s direction, ensuring its preservation and relevance for generations to come. Buses will shuttle visitors to the house from the Museum’s main campus in downtown Jackson. MMA will announce the opening date to the public at a future date.
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Fountainhead
Fountainhead is an example of what Frank Lloyd Wright called Usonian homes—typically designed as a single-level bungalow for middle-income families in the United States. Usonian homes feature native material, flat roofs and cantilevered overhangs, and natural lighting among other architectural elements. Designed by Wright when he was 81, Fountainhead contains four bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and two half bathrooms across 3,558 square feet including the basement and porches.
The .97-acre property integrates Wright’s signature principles of harmony with nature and organic design. The innovative design follows the contours of the landscape which determined its parallelogram shape for the module nestled into a wooded hillside. The diamond-shape geometry is repeated throughout the house and dictated the placement of the walls and shape of the interior spaces.
With the walls and ceilings made of Heart Tidewater Red Cypress wood, the house was built without stud walls, sheetrock, brick, tile, carpeting, or paint. Large windows enable ample natural light and offer views of the wooded landscape. Additional elements include Wright-designed built-in furniture, hardwood floors, wooden shutters, skylights, a carport, terrace, three fireplaces, and the original copper-sheeted roof.
Curator
Jennifer Baughn appointed as Fountainhead curator following a distinguished 30-year career at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History, where she most recently retired from the position as Chief Architectural Historian overseeing the listing of numerous properties on the National Register and as National Historic Landmarks. A leading authority on Mississippi’s built environment, she co-authored the definitive Buildings of Mississippi (2021) and is past president of the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians. Her extensive fieldwork includes a statewide survey of over 3,000 historic school campuses and leading preservation teams on the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina.
In her role as Fountainhead curator, Baughn brings decades of experience in historic preservation to one of Mississippi’s most significant works of Modern design. “Frank Lloyd Wright called architecture ‘the mother art,’ and Fountainhead will invite visitors to explore architecture and design as experiential art,” said Baughn. As curator, she will lead the restoration of Fountainhead, working with the preservation team to assess the building’s condition, develop a Historic Structure Report, and address damage from shifting Yazoo clay soil. In addition, Baughn will develop interpretive exhibitions and public tours that deepen engagement with the site and elevate Mississippi’s role in broader conversations around design, preservation, and the built environment.
