Bavinger House, Single-family detached home in Norman, US.
The Bavinger House was a single-family home in Norman, Oklahoma, built 1950–1955 to Bruce Goff's design. Its 96-foot wall was a logarithmic spiral of 200 tons of local "ironrock" sandstone, dynamited by owner Eugene Bavinger on nearby farmland and hauled in on his 1948 Chevy flatbed. A recycled oil-field drill stem formed a central mast over 55 feet high, with no interior walls, only platforms at different heights, some curtained for privacy, above pools and planted areas.
Architect Bruce Goff designed the house in 1955 using local sandstone materials from the region. The building received the Twenty-five Year Award from the American Institute of Architects in 1987 for its innovative design.
The house was built by artists Nancy and Eugene Bavinger, who moved in with their family in February 1955. Its name comes from them, and Life magazine featured it that September. Visitors once paid a dollar each to tour it, and the Bavingers later stopped the tours because they no longer wanted constant visitors.
The house was demolished in 2016, so only a vacant lot remains at the site in Norman; there is nothing left to tour. The building was removed from the National Register of Historic Places in 2017. Visitors researching Bruce Goff's work should consult archival photographs and the 1955 Life magazine feature instead.
The house had no interior walls; instead, platforms at different heights, some with curtains for privacy, were reached along a 96-foot spiral wall. The Bavingers first charged a dollar per guest to limit visitors, and Life reported the tours had yielded over $4,000.
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