Since many of the lucky ones are off work today to recover from too much fun/food in the sun yesterday, it might be the better part of valor for me to just do a post catching y’all up on interesting recent posts in the blogosphere.
June 14, 2010: Marty Kittrell’s post on the Lamar Life Building has some great detail shots of the gargoyles hovering over the street in downtown Jackson.
June 18, 2010: Suzassippi’s Lottabusha County Chronicles takes a look at some interesting sites in Lafayette, Yalobusha, and Calhoun Counties.
June 25, 2010: A thought-provoking essay from The Urbanophile arguing that civic leadership hasn’t disappeared, but has shifted from the bankers and merchant classes to the real estate and development communities.
June 25, 2010: A photo essay of Yazoo City and County from kodachromeguy at Urban Decay
June 28, 2010: Architectural Research’s “Hurricanes, Oil & Architecture” reminds us that before the oil disaster in the Gulf, the oil industry had brought great wealth and many major works of architecture–good and bad–in the Gulf Coast region.
June 28, 2010: Regional Modernism posted a scanned newspaper article (“Mississippi Coast: Lost Moderns“) about the Calongne House in Waveland, and also provides a link to a blog post about the unknown-to-me Bruce Goff house in Gulfport, built in 1958 for the Gutman family and apparently destroyed by fire. Anyone know where this wacky/amazing house was?
June 28, 2010: Suzassippi visits the B.T.C Old-Fashioned Grocery store in Water Valley mentioned in the June 25, 2010 News Roundup and shares her pictures and thoughts. She even tracks down an interesting historic photograph of the building that leaves us with some intriguing questions. Thanks Susan!
July 1, 2010: The National Trust’s blog gives some ideas in “How to turn young adults into preservationists.” The comments to this post provide other interesting perspectives on the issue of bringing the Under-40 crowd into the preservation tent.
Categories: Architectural Research, Gulfport, Jackson, Yazoo City
Preservation in Mississippi 
The Bruce Goff House, aka the Gutman House, in Gulfport, also locally known as the Star of David House, was located on the north side of Bayou Circle in Gulfport, which runs along the south shore of Gulfport Lake, all in the Bayou View subdivision. It was originally constructed by a Dr. Gutman, and was sometimes called the “Flying Saucer House”. It was quite a sight when it was built.
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Thanks for that helpful information–wish I had been around to see it. Do you know about when it burned?
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My memory often plays tricks on me when I’m asked how long ago things happened, but I’m going to guess it was no more than 10 years ago.
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the house burned in 1986. this was a favorite destination for sunday drives when i was a kid. the stucco finish had crushed glass mixed in it and the house glittered in the sunlight. Goff’s other gulf coast masterpeice, the Gryder house in Ocean Springs MS is still in pristine condition.
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According to J. Francois Gabriel’s Beyond the cube: The architecture of space frames and polyhedra, it was in the 1980s, and was a fire of “suspicious origin.” Assuming the link works, it will take you to a page about the Gutman House, and also includes a picture that is more visible than the one from the first post. http://books.google.com/books?id=FkM0945nFV8C&pg=PA65&lpg=PA65&dq=Bruce+Goff+house+Gulfport&source=bl&ots=W_uesrfJ5X&sig=NxrWV2fneM06nx4TQrbBTSHN_Pc&hl=en&ei=rgUyTMLzG6LenQfLg-WJBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CDEQ6AEwBjgU#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Well….I only missed the date by 2 decades or so. Maybe it was the late 80’s.
;-)
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Thanks for that link Susan–too bad about the fire, I would have loved to see this place. That picture is definitely better than the one on the blog too.
Jim, just like our parents warned us, once we got out of school, the years just all melded into one :-)
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My husband bought the Star House from the Gutmans. From what I understand it was quite the party house. I wish he had not sold it to the last owner. Wonder how it would have withstood Katrina.
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Oh I wish it would have lasted long enough for us to see how it stood up to Katrina! It was elevated, right, so it might have had a chance, unless the water came up even higher or the fasteners weren’t strong.
I guess it’s not surprising it was a party house, maybe that’s what started the fire?
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Memories, memories, memories! I have not thought of this part of my life in years until my brother-in-law sent me this website. I lived through the planning and building of this extraordinary home. It would be nice if people would do more research before they post comments on the internet but then I suppose that is why they say you should not believe everything that you read. The Dixie magazine from The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, December 25, 1960, printed an article by Ethel Floyd entitled “Triangle Among the Pines”. There are many pictures from the inside of the home with 2 specifically showing myself in my bedroom and my brother in his. Therefore, one could easily see Dr. and Mrs. Gutman did indeed have children.
The home was built in the shape of a triangle so that every room had a view of the bayou—not just some random geometric form picked out of the air. It was carefully planned and took years in the making. It was built 15 feet off the ground to avoid flooding from the bayou and to enjoy living among the tall pine trees. The home contained no right angles, had no hallways, only had 3 walls and was built to utilize every square inch of the 3000 square foot interior. Every nook and cranny had a purpose and believe me there was no wasted space in this home. The triangular motif was carried throughout the home and there were plenty of public, private, and family areas. The home was built to take advantage of the beautiful views of the bayou (gorgeous sunsets and fish jumping constantly) and to encompass the tall pine trees on the lot as well. It was a fantastic place to live!
Bruce Goff was a great architect and he did not believe in the typical “a box with holes in it” structure. He built ultra-modern using many different materials that were not of the norm and which often took time to locate and have shipped to the coast. Bruce came to stay with my family often to get to know the family. He believed in building a structure for the individuals that were to occupy them. Therefore, he built this home to accommodate my family and our lifestyle. It was never a party home when I lived there but a very functional family home. Yes, it did provide for elegant, professional entertaining. And yes, my parents could entertain while my brother and I slept in our wing of the home.
My family had to move and my parents sold the home to Hugh Sherer Scully. The closing statement for the sale taking place on December 1, 1967. I have no idea what happened to the home after that except hearsay and the fact that my parents were very patient with Mr. Scully for years.
I do have information on the home as it stood when I lived there. I have pictures which I tried to attach but with no success.
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My aunt used to live here as well. Barker family I think was her name. My aunt and uncle were married here as well, Richard and Karen Sullivan. Can you share some pictures with me to my email.
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