OUR
HISTORY
"I stepped off the train and found Gulfport to be a veritable mud hole."
HOBART D. SHAW
GENERATION I
PHILIP W. SHAW, SR.
GENERATION II
PHILIP W. SHAW, JR.
GENERATION III
M. ALLISON ROUSE
GENERATION IV
Those words, uttered by Hobart Doane Shaw in 1904, described a town that would soon benefit from his own architectural and engineering skills and those of his son, grandson and great-granddaughter. In 1906, Mr. H. D. Shaw, along with his partner, Mr. Dean P. Woleben, established the first design firm in the long line of those operated by his descendants that followed throughout the century until today. This 100+ years of continuous practice makes our family's firm the oldest of this type in Mississippi and one of the oldest firms in southeastern United States.
THE
SEAWALL
Our founder's most notable work is the design of one of the engineering marvels of the century, the Harrison County Seawall, a 26 mile reinforced concrete seawall that separates and protects Highway 90 and the communities along the Mississippi Gulf Coast from the unpredictable Gulf of Mexico. At the time of it’s construction, it was the largest reinforced concrete structure in the world.
PROFESSIONAL
PROFILE
A trip through South Mississippi reveals hundreds of diverse projects designed by four generations of the Shaw family since its’ founding in 1906. The projects vary from major complexes such as the Army National Guard Training Site at Camp Shelby and Hardy Court Shopping Center, to major single structures such as the Sears Building (now Whitney Bank), Mississippi Power Company Service Center, Entex Building, Aviation Classification Repair Activity Depot (AVCRAD), Three Rivers Elementary School, Oakley Juvenile Correctional Facility, and hundreds of building varieties for the military, local government and private clients, including various universities and school systems. Since its inception, the firm has been responsible for millions of dollars worth of construction throughout Mississippi and the southeastern United States and has long maintained its reputation for quality architectural services.
INTRODUCING OUR NEW FIRM IN
NORTH CAROLINA
In 2017, the third and fourth generation father and daughter team of Shaw architects, expanded their family's century long legacy with the establishment of their North Carolina architecture firm, Shaw and Rouse Architects, PLLC. In addition to his partnership with his daughter's firm, Mr. Shaw is also the current owner of our family's Mississippi firm, Shaw Design Group, for which Mrs. Rouse has continued to work even after relocating to North Carolina in 2006 after her home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.
