History of the Fairview Inn & Restaurant
The Warren-Guild-Simmons House
 Fairview
Inn Bed and Breakfast is rich with history of Jackson, Mississippi. Constructed in 1908, at the turn of the century, Fairview is one of Jackson's landmark mansions and one of the few architecturally designed houses of that period remaining in the city. It was built for Cyrus C. Warren, vice president of the Warren-Goodwin Lumber Company, and was designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Spencer and Powers. Robert Closson Spencer was a prominent member of the Prairie School and a close associate of Frank Lloyd Wright. Walter Burley Griffin was his star employee.
Both the main house, whose front entrance facing Fairview Street is supported by modified Corinthian columns, and the carriage house facing Oakwood Street, are Colonial Revival, a style associated with the formality and elegance of Southern tradition. The classical detail and ordered proportions of the Palladian influence on Georgian architecture are also apparent in Fairview, and have caused it to be compared with Mount Vernon, although there are significant differences between the two structures. In recognition of its architectural character, Fairview was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The property was purchased in 1913 by Felix Gunter, president of the Jackson Board of Trade (forerunner of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce), and then by W. E. Guild, treasurer of the Finkbine Lumber Company, in 1921.
In 1930, Fairview was purchased by D. C. Simmons, and has been a Simmons family home ever since. D. C. Simmons, associated for many years with Deposit Guaranty Bank and Trust Company and the Mississippi Baptist Hospital's Board of Trustees, lived in the house until his death in 1964, and his widow, Annie Belle Ferguson Simmons, continued to live in the house until her death in 1972. Their son, William J. Simmons, purchased the property from his parents' estate in 1972. He and his wife, Carol, are the present owners and residents.
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