DAILY LEADER / KATIE WILLIAMSON / Enochs Hall on the Mississippi School of the Arts campus is being honored with a 2014 Heritage Award for Restoration from the Mississippi Heritage Trust.

A building on the Mississippi School of the Arts campus is among 19 structures around the state being recognized with 2014 Heritage Awards for Restoration from the Mississippi Heritage Trust.

MSA’s Enochs Hall will be honored Tuesday in Tupelo at the Trust’s annual Heritage Award luncheon.

“We are really excited,” said MSA Executive Director Suzanne Hirsch. “We’re really honored that our building was selected.”

Built in 1920 as a dormitory and cafeteria for the former Whitworth College, Enochs Hall was renovated in 2012 to house a first-floor gallery and a second-floor black box theater. Classrooms and workshop and storage space were also included in the design.

“We still need to do two classrooms on the third floor,” Hirsch said.

All areas of the building except the still-to-be tackled third floor are in use. The black box theater has proved to be a huge boon for MSA’s drama students, who previously only had Lampton Hall for productions.

“The building is really a godsend. It’s a practical thing (for the school),” Hirsch said, “but to say the design has met the criteria for preservation is great.”

The renovation was directed by Belinda Stewart Architects, PA, of Eupora with Scarbrough Construction, LLC, as contractor.

The project’s cost of $1,594,000 was partially covered by an $800,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with the remaining funds coming from the state.

Hirsch will join award recipients and preservationists from around the state at the J.J. Rogers Building in Tupelo for the celebration of 49 achievements in historic preservation.

Awards will be presented in a number of categories. In addition to Historic Preservation, Heritage Award winners will be announced for Preservation Education, for Distinguished Service.