[5] In August 2015, smoke from a fire in a nearby hotel, as well as water resulting from the incident, damaged the Central High building, so the Mississippi Department of Education temporarily moved its headquarters to the South Pointe Business Park in Clinton.

The 1925 changes included moving the Greek columns from the front of the building and adding a floor in addition to the still existing towers.

The 1925 changes to Old Central High School make it the finest example of Tudor Gothic or “Jacobian” institutional architecture in Mississippi.

All these features derived from the design of Hampton Court – King Henry VIII’s grand palace, built around 1520.

The Tudor Gothic style was favored for educational facilities in the early 20th century because of its association with the great English Universities and the culture of Shakespearean England.

With its tree-shaded lawn and generous set-back from North West Street, Central High School possesses a stately park-like landscape second only to that of the New Capitol Building.

Another of Lindsley’s designs was the Robert E. Lee Hotel, which has also been renovated and serves admirably in its new function as a state office building.

Prior renovations took the 137,500 square foot structure through a metamorphosis of style from Romanesque to neoclassical to Tudor Gothic.

In that year, an electric alarm system was installed, and the bell was taken from the fire station bower, and placed on the front of the building where it remained until the CHS Seniors of 1937-1938 decided to return it to Central High School.

The seniors took this on as their class project, placing the bell on a concrete base on the south side of the front school campus.

Today, the bell is once again located at the Jackson Central Fire Station on the corner of Pearl and President Streets.