A New Guardian Named Love

"We are entering this reservation in your name at a rate not to exceed $7.00 per day. Also, note your late arrival and are marking our books accordingly.

It will be a pleasure to have you with us and wish to assure you that everything possible will be done to see that your stay is a most enjoyable one."-Hotel confirmation letter sent to Pfc. John Hopper in New Orleans, August 1944

With the White family’s unerring instinct for perfection, the Hotel continued to flourish as a refined center for the good life on the Gulf Coast. Local couples danced cheek-to-cheek on summer nights at the White House Pavilion; northern guests made annual Hotel pilgrimages to escape the icy winters.

Following the 1934 death of legendary proprietress Cora White, the Hotel was finally sold in 1940 to a proud new owner who would cherish this Grand Lady on the Gulf for three more wonderful decades. While prominent Mississippi businessman Jimmie Love, Jr. already owned the area’s highly successful Buena Vista Hotel, and would later launch Biloxi’s first television station with WLOX-TV, his heart would always belong to the White House.

Mr. Love guided his Grande Dame hotel through several facelifts, which included removing the second floor screened-in balcony so that her imposing white columns could soar without interruption. He added a gracefully curved, in-ground swimming pool, an aquamarine gem set high on the crest of her vast green lawn. And Love’s leadership would also bring a new type of corporate clientele to the White House, as he developed the Hotel into a top destination for the burgeoning convention market.