Stained Classy at The Inn at Ole Miss

Inn at Ole Miss continues adding stained glass depictions of iconic campus scenes.

The tower at the Inn at Ole Miss recently celebrated its fifth anniversary. Since opening, the Inn has added four stained glass windows to the tower and is looking to add more.

The original portion of the Inn was built in 1951. The more recent five-year-old tower offers 49 suites, a state of the art boardroom, 5,600 square foot ballroom, a café, and a gift shop.

Inside the lobby are four stained glass windows depicting scenes from around the Ole Miss campus: the Grove, Ventress Hall, the Lyceum, and the Triplett Alumni Center. The Inn is currently raising funds for a new window.

“Right now in the lobby, where the four stained glass pictures are, we have four more transoms that we would like to have a stained glass scene,” Gaye Bukur, general manager of the Inn, says. “The (stained glass window) that we’re fundraising for right now is for the transom above the doors right by the front desk.”

Bukur says that once the transom above those doors is complete, the Inn will begin to move around to the other transoms and raise money for stained glass pieces. The Inn also envisions placing stained glass in other locations.

But, at the moment, the Inn is only focusing on one window at a time. If anyone wants to donate money to the Inn for the windows there are a few options.

“The best way to donate is to send the donations in by mail to the Ole Miss Alumni Association Stained Glass Window Fund,” says Steve Mullen, assistant director for membership and marketing with the Ole Miss Alumni Association. “To date, we have raised about $4,200 towards the project.”

The goal of the Ole Miss Alumni Association’s Past President’s Spouses Club, which originated the idea, is to raise $15,000 for the new window, which will depict Barnard Observatory. The Pearl River Glass Company completed the first four stained glass windows, and Bukur says most likely they will do the fifth one as well.

“We get a lot of input from the alumni,” Bukur says. “It was one of our alumni groups that brought up the idea to raise money and do another stained glass transom. You look at the buildings that are pretty, that have the most history, and which ones are going to look the best in stained glass. The consensus was to make it Barnard Observatory.”

For more information on the windows currently in the lobby of the tower at the Inn at Ole Miss and the new stained glass projects to come, click here.

— Justin Taylor, senior journalism major, Meek School of Journalism & New Media