Last week when looking around for a picture of the Gryder House in Ocean Springs to put in “Notes on SESAH Keynote” I realized I didn’t have any myself, and I just didn’t feel that those on the internet showed the true amazingness of the house. So, courtesy of MDAH, I have acquired a few pictures that I hope will give you a little taste of this 1960 Bruce Goff fantasia, sometimes called “The Cat House” because some people see a crouching cat in its form.
I was fortunate to be introduced to the Gryder House on the 2003 SESAH bus tour, the same tour which showed me the Charnley Cottage. If there’s ever another tour of the house (wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a house like this show up on a Pilgrimage tour??), suffice it to say, it will be well worth the trip no matter how many miles you have to go to see it. You can rest assured, I’ll be in line ahead of you, because I can’t wait to see it again.
This is what you see as you come into the driveway--to the left is a porte cochere, with a covered walk from there to the house. A mast rises through the center of the house, and I assume helps support the roof?
Each of the bedrooms opens onto its own little conical balcony overlooking a moat that surrounded the house and terminates at a large pool in the back.
The rear overlooks the Old Fort Bayou and a pool.
Speaking of SESAH and pictures, check out the set of photos posted on Flickr by one of the attendees at this year’s Jackson meeting. I’m always interested to see the pictures that architecturally minded people from out of town take when they come to Jackson. These are some good ones–I especially like the views of the interiors: Coleman Library at Tougaloo, Wiener House, Mayflower Cafe, and Brent’s Drugs. Enjoy!
Robert “Bob” Faust was one of my Professors at Auburn University in 1976. Faust was working for Bruce Goff at the time of the Gryder House construction and told me he was the job captain for the project. I went school with the Gryder’s daughter Belinda. I love the house.
http://cadc.auburn.edu/faculty/rfaust
Posted by CARL GERMANY | March 24, 2011, 1:24 pmHere’s a great post about one of Goff’s Illinois houses, along with wonderful quote from Life magazine when it was built in 1951: http://mcarch.wordpress.com/2010/12/16/bruce-goffs-ford-residence-aurora-illinois-1948/
Posted by ELMalvaney | September 20, 2011, 11:01 pmwow, that Illinois house is amazing. The interior is very similar to the Goff house in Ocean Springs, and to see that it was build more than a decade before is impressive stylistically.
I also love the owners comment on the construction sign— “WE DON’T LIKE YOUR HOUSE EITHER.”
Posted by Thomas Rosell | September 22, 2011, 1:51 pm