About Duling Hall

Duling School

The Lorena Duling School, located at 622 Duling Avenue in Jackson, Mississippi, was designed by Jackson architect Claude H. Lindsley and constructed in 1927. The building was commissioned by the Jackson Public School district as the neighborhood elementary school for the developing community of Fondren.

Located at the geographic center of Fondren, the school was one of the neighborhood’s earliest and most prominent public institutions. Once completed, the school fostered the continued development of the neighborhood. The history of the building from its inception in the 1920s through its expansions in the 1930s and 1940s mirrors the patterns of development of the surrounding community. The building played a prominent role in the community where generations of Fondren’s residents were educated.

Architecture

The school is an important as a representative work of significant local Jackson architect, Claude H. Lindsley, and as an intact example of the application of the Tudor Revival style to a school building. The Tudor Revival style found favorability between 1890 and 1940. Evoking the virtues of learning and permanence, the style was one of the most popular architectural styles for educational buildings built during the 1920s and 1930s.

Duling Hall retains the defining characteristics that are representative of the Tudor Revival style:

• patterned brickwork
• incorporation of side porches (in the form of the loggias on the enclosed passageways at the rear elevation)
• multi-light windows that are tall and narrow and grouped
• hood mouldings of the windows
• use of quoins
• entrances with flattened arched heads

About Lorena Duling

Lorena Duling (1859-1949), was a Tennessee native who was taught in Paris, Texas for a number of years prior to moving to Jackson in 1899. She was one of the most influential persons during the early formation of the Jackson Public School district. In 1905, she became principal of the Jefferson Davis School and served in that capacity for 36 years. In total, taught for 58 years before retiring in 1942 at the age of 82. Duling Street, on which the school is located, also bears her name. The Lorena Duling School had the distinction of being the only public school in Jackson named for a living person. She was described by the Clarion Ledger in 1942 as “lovable and kind, although uncompromising and stern, never forgetting that the school was her responsibility.”

School Information

When the school opened, there were five teachers and a total enrollment of 36 pupils. At the time, Jackson’s elementary schools typically held grades 1-5 with grades 6-12 located in the junior high and high schools. With its five original classrooms, the Lorena Duling School likely contained one class per grade with approximately seven students per class when the building first opened.

Following the Depression, JPS began a comprehensive campaign of alterations and improvements to the district’s school buildings. Over a ten year period, almost every school in the district was enlarged or altered. Most commonly, auditoriums were added.

In 1936, the auditorium addition to the Lorena Duling School was added to the east, with an enclosed passageway providing a link to the original school building. Evidence of the school’s prominent role in the community, the auditorium was designed to seat 360 persons and to serve as a place for community meetings and gatherings. To meet the needs of a burgeoning Fondren neighborhood, a major expansion was planned for the Duling School following the close of World War II. In 1947, the two-story addition which featured a cafeteria and seven classrooms was constructed to the east, connecting the auditorium by an enclosed connecting passage.

Duling and the Baby Boom

The 1947 addition was constructed to accommodate the first through third grades, which at the time were witnessing record enrollments as a result of the baby boom. The fourth and fifth grades remained in the original section of the building. When the addition opened, enrollment at the school stood at 383, more than ten times the initial enrollment when the building opened two decades earlier.

Duling Alternative

In the 1990s, JPS instituted a new program for addressing pupils with discipline problems. Under the new plan, the Lorena Duling School was renamed Duling Alternative and students in grades 1-12 were bussed to Duling from the other 57 district schools. At the start of the 1995 school year, enrollment stood at 26, but it was expected that the student body would grow to 120 pupils.

School Closure

In 2005, the Jackson Public School district announced the closure of Duling Alternative, and the school stood vacant.

Property Development and Revitalization

Through the 2005 Mississippi School Property Act, developer Mike Peters worked to redevelop the school. Construction began in the spring of 2006, and the building welcomed shoppers in 2009 with an eclectic mix of boutiques. The Auditorium Restaurant, an anchor of the overall plan, was repurposed in 2010 as an event space for medium-sized functions and was named Duling Hall.

Please Note: It will be the responsibility of the client or their chosen caterer/event company to set any tables and chairs in Duling Hall according to their needs or requests. Duling Hall can set up tables and chairs for an additional fee. Linens are not included.

Directions to Duling

From I-55, take the Lakeland Drive exist west until it dead ends into Old Canton Road. Turn right onto Old Canton. Turn left on Duling Avenue at the second light. Take the first right onto the road between Babalu and Trustmark.

Parking Behind Duling

Park the bus facing east. After turning right into the parking lot, you’ll approach a stop sign in the parking lot. Swing a wide left and turn right at the stop sign. Pull up far enough to line up, and then back into the designated parking space. Drop the trailer gate into the handicap area.

• Davaine Lighting

• Frank F Farmer – F3 Documentary Photography, LLC
• Ron Blaylock Photography
• Beth Morgan – BMoPhoto
• Christina Cannon – Photography by Christina
• Midstory Photography

• Fresh Cut Catering & Floral
• Little Bluestem Farm

• MS Tent Company

• Old Capitol Inn
• Visit our page on ConcertHotels.com to see all of the available hotels close to Duling Hall.

• Arden Barnett – ardenland