A video for Friday. This film was made shortly before Bruce Goff’s passing in August of 1982. It is very interesting to hear Goff describe his work in his own voice. The 1958 Gutman House in Gulfport (no longer standing) and the 1960 Gryder House in Ocean Springs make brief appearances during a slide show given by Goff along with a few comments. Images of the Gryder house show the house before the Goff-designed carport was added (c.1963). The images of the rear also show that the swimming pool and surrounding deck were yet to be added.
Gutman & Gryder Houses from We Don’t like Your House c1984
The title of the film comes from the 1948 Goff-designed Ford Residence in Aurora, Ill. Mrs. Ford having grown weary of people telling her they didn’t like the design of her home, included on the project sign “We Don’t Like Your House Either – The Fords”
It’s probably my favorite project sign ever.
Ford Residence Project Sign. Aurora IL. LIFE Magazine. Photographer – Eliot Elisofon c.1948 https://books.google.com/books?id=v0sEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=Bruce%20Goff&f=false
I’ve set the film to begin at the part that includes the few moments regarding the Gryder and Gutman houses, but if you have the time the whole film is worth watching, even if it’s just to see the house that uses indoor-outdoor carpeting for roofing material.
We Don’t Like Your House Either; The Architecture of Bruce Goff
A BBC TV Production in association with the Shin’enkan Foundation. c.1983/1984
Categories: Gulfport, Historic Preservation, Lost Mississippi, Modernism, Ocean Springs
Preservation in Mississippi 
“Well, they wanted curves more than straight lines, and it worked out in this way.” A very succinct description of the Gryder House!
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Haha. Goff appears to have been more loquacious regarding the Gutman house. I’ve found two articles published in the Daily Hearld in which he has several quotes about the Gutman House but I haven’t seen anything similar for the Gryder House.
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The current issue of the Friends of Kebyar (FOK) journal is on the Ford House. It is a great read that spotlights a unique structure.
The Glen Harder House that was located in Mountain Lake, MN burned quite a few years ago, one of a number of lost Goff works: Gutman House, Bavinger House, Shin’enKan. Mountain Lake still has the Jacob Harder House – the Spaceship House to locals – which was one the last designs Goff completed as his practice wound down in the 1970s.
As far as Goff’s loquaciousness goes, he was in somewhat poor health and would pass away about a year after this documentary was filmed. That explains some of it, though he was never larger than life like Frank Lloyd Wright.
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Sorry for my confusing remark. I was referring to Goff comments in general rather than specifically in this film. From what period articles I’ve come across he was very proud of the Gutman design. While the Gutman House’s design was frequently featured in the coasts news papers the Gryder House seems surprisingly absent. I hope to share these articles in future posts.
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Goff’s most imaginative creation, the spiral Bavinger House, was demolished last month.
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Yes, so sad. With some amount of malice it seems too. It really is a shame.
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