4 GOFF’S LEGACY
1Goff left a rich body of work both with and without polyhedrality. Some of these have been lovingly and carefully tended and preserved. Others have suffered neglect, emasculating alterations, fires, and demolition, and need public attention and nurturing. The Gutman and Wilson Houses and the Phi Lambda Fraternity House were demolished after damaging fires. Other Goff houses are gone—the Glen Harder House near Mountain Lake, Minnesota, was completely destroyed by fire recently. In December 1996, Goff’s masterpiece, Shin’enkan, the former Oklahoma residence of Joe and Etsuko Price, burned to the ground. Arson is suspected. The Frank Cole House in Park Ridge, Illinois, an example of Stage 1 polyhedrality, was demolished several years ago. A number of structures have undergone radical alterations, for example, the 1967 Mercedes-Benz Building in Atlanta.
2 ‘‘…The process of designating as landmarks many of his best designs has just begun, and will continue as the structures pass the 50-year mark required for official recognition. It is our hope that the remaining body of Goff’s extant designs will be recognized and preserved as a testament to one of America’s great architectural minds.’’65
3 Goff’s contribution to the use of polyhedra in architecture did not originate in a spirit of rigorous polyhedral form making. Rather, it translates the concepts of Bragdon, Wright, et al., by creating new transcendental environments, incorporating polyhedra in their place among the universe of architectural form/structure/space possibilities.