Bruce Goff
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This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. (June 2011) |
| Bruce Alonzo Goff | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 8, 1904 Alton, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | August 4, 1982 (aged 78) Tyler, Texas, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Buildings |
Bavinger House |
Bruce Alonzo Goff (June 8, 1904 – August 4, 1982) was an American architect distinguished by his organic, eclectic, and often flamboyant designs for houses and other buildings in Oklahoma and elsewhere.
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Early years [edit]
Born in Alton, Kansas, Goff was a child prodigy who apprenticed at the age of twelve to Rush, Endacott and Rush of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Goff became a partner with the firm in 1930. He is credited, along with his high-school art teacher Adah Robinson, with the design of Boston Avenue Methodist Church in Tulsa, one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the United States.
Teaching [edit]
After stints in Chicago and Berkeley, Goff accepted a teaching position with the School of Architecture at the University of Oklahoma in 1942. By 1943, despite a lack of credentials, he was chairman of the school. This was his most productive period. In his private practice, Goff built an impressive number of residences in the American Midwest, developing his singular style of organic architecture that was client- and site-specific.
Work [edit]
Goff's accumulated design portfolio of 500 projects (about one quarter of them built) demonstrates a restless, sped-up evolution through conventional styles and forms at a young age, through the Prairie Style of his heroes and correspondents Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, then into original design. Finding inspiration in sources as varied as Antoni Gaudi, Balinese music, Claude Debussy, Japanese ukiyo-e prints, and seashells, Goff's mature work had no precedent and he has few heirs other than his former assistant, New Mexico architect Bart Prince, and former student, Herb Greene.[1] His contemporaries primarily followed tight functionalistic floorplans with flat roofs and no ornament. Goff's idiosyncratic floorplans, attention to spatial effect, and use of recycled and/or unconventional materials such as gilded zebrawood, cellophane strips, cake pans, glass cullet, Quonset Hut ribs, ashtrays, and white turkey feathers, challenge conventional distinctions between order and disorder.
A number of Goff's original designs are on display at the Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Selected works [edit]
Goff was active from about 1926 until his death, with several of his projects completed by associates after his death. A number of his works were considered for listing on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.[2] Selected works with Wikipedia articles are below, for a more comprehensive list see the List of works by Bruce Goff.
- 1926: Boston Avenue Methodist Church, Tulsa, Oklahoma
- 1938: Turzak House, Chicago, Illinois
- 1947: Ledbetter House, Norman, Oklahoma
- 1950: Bavinger House, Norman, Oklahoma
- 1955: John Frank House, Sapulpa, Oklahoma
- 1978: Pavilion for Japanese Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
Contributions [edit]
Today, Goff's contributions to the history of 20th-century architecture are widely praised. His extant archive—including architectural drawings, paintings, musical compositions, photographs, project files, and personal and professional papers—is held by the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries at the Art Institute of Chicago.
His Bavinger House was awarded the Twenty-five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1987,[3] and Boston Avenue Methodist Church was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1999.[4]
Death [edit]
Goff died in Tyler, Smith County, TX on August 4, 1982 (TX Death Records). His cremated remains are interred in Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois, with a marker designed by Grant Gustafson (one of Goff's students) that incorporates a glass cullet fragment salvaged from the ruins of the Joe D. Price House and Studio.
References [edit]
- "The Round House", Life Magazine (1951)[5]
- Gunnar Birkets, Process and Expression in Architectural Form (The Bruce Alonzo Goff Series in Creative Architecture) (University of Oklahoma Press, 1994)[6]
- Jeffrey Cook, The Architecture of Bruce Goff (Granada Publishing Ltd. 1978)[7]
- David G. De Long, Bruce Goff: Toward Absolute Architecture (MIT Press 1988)[8]
- Pauline Saliga and Mary Woolever, The Architecture of Bruce Goff: Design for the Continuous Present (Prestel 1995)[9]
- Philip B. Welch, Goff on Goff: Conversations and Lectures (1996 University of Oklahoma Press)[10]
Notes [edit]
- ^ Huxtable, Ada Louise (February 8, 1970). "Peacock Feathers and Pink Plastic". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-06-23.
- ^ Arn Henderson (2000). "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property documentation: Resources Designed by Bruce Goff in Oklahoma, 1918-1982".
- ^ Webb, Michael (2005). "Saving Bruce Goff". The Architectural Review.
- ^ "Boston Avenue Methodist Episcopal Church, South". National Historic Landmark summary listing. National Park Service. Retrieved 2008-01-18.
- ^ "The Round House". Life Magazine. 1951.
- ^ Birkerts, Gunnar (April 1994). Process and Expression in Architectural Form (The Bruce Alonzo Goff Series in Creative Architecture) 1. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-2642-5.
- ^ Cook, Jeffrey (January 1, 1978). The Architecture of Bruce Goff. Granada Publishing Limited. ISBN 978-0-246-11315-3.
- ^ De Long, David G. (August 19, 1988). Bruce Goff: Toward Absolute Architecture (1st ed.). The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-04097-6.
- ^ Pauline Saliga, ed. (June 1995). The Architecture of Bruce Goff: Design for the Continuous Present. Mary Woolever. Prestel. ISBN 978-3-7913-1453-2.
- ^ Welch, Philip B. (November 1996). Goff on Goff: Conversations and Lectures. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-2868-9.
External links [edit]
| Find more about Bruce Goff at Wikipedia's sister projects | |
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Travel information from Wikivoyage |
- ADAO - International Web Portal of Organic Architecture
- Bruce Goff Archive - includes biography and digitized images
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Goff, Bruce
- Allison Meier, "Midwestern Futurism: The Endangered Legacy of an Avant-garde Architect", Hyperallergic (Aug. 22, 2012)
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