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Cocoon House

The Healey Guest House
Excellent
  • Modern Movement
  • Identity of Building/Site
  • History of Building/Site

Cocoon House

Credit

Courtesy of Sarasota Architectural Foundation

Site overview

Located on Bayou Louise Lane on Siesta Key, Cocoon House is a two-bedroom, one-bath, 760-square-foot cottage built as a guesthouse for Mr. and Mrs. W. R. Healy. The house gets its name from the technology used to build its roof: a polymer spray that Paul Rudolph saw being used at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on warships returning after WWII in order to "cocoon" or moth-ball them. Rudolph's creativity made him realize that this material could also be used in the construction industry.

 

The Cocoon House was named “Best House Design of the Year” from the AIA in 1949; selected by MoMA New York as one of 19 examples of houses built since WWII that were "pioneers of design" in 1953; and locally designated as a historic property by the City of Sarasota in 1985.

 

Description taken from The Sarasota Architectural Foundation.

Primary classification

Residential (RES)

Designations

Locally designated as a historic property by the City of Sarasota in 1985

How to Visit

Experience the rare opportunity to tour the interior of Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph’s historic 1950 Healy Guest House, also known as Cocoon House.

 

Space is limited to 15 guests per tour. Please register in advance.

 

Explore Modern House Partnership

Your Docomomo US membership card will grant reciprocal access and discounts when registering for a tour of the Cocoon House. 

 

More sites in the Explore Modern Partnership

Location

3575 Bayou Louise Lane
Siesta Key, FL, 34242
More visitation information

Case Study House No. 21

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Credit:

Courtesy of Sarasota Architectural Foundation

Designer(s)

Paul Rudolph

Architect

Paul M. Rudolph (1918-1997) was born a minister’s son in Elkton, Kentucky.

Inspired by architecture at an early age, Rudolph studied architecture as an undergraduate at Alabama Polytechnic (now Auburn University), and after a brief period in the Navy during WWII, he successfully completed graduate studies at Harvard under Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius.

Rudolph was a pioneering architect in Sarasota, Florida, a major figure of the ‘Sarasota School of Architecture,' which gained international attention for innovative solutions to the modern American home.

He was Dean of the Yale School of Architecture from 1958-1965, during which his best known work, the Yale Art & Architecture Building, was completed and became both a Modernist icon and a topic of controversy.

After his tenure at Yale, Rudolph continued during the next 30 years to create some of Modernism's most unique and powerful architecture.

Despite the wane in Rudolph’s popularity during the dominance of Post-Modernism in the late 70’s and 80’s, his work and legacy has had a profound impact on the architecture of our era.

Rudolph, who is today considered one of America’s great Late Modernist architects, was an inspirational mentor to those whom he taught. His former students include some of architecture’s most internationally respected architects such as Norman Foster, Richard Rogers, and Robert A.M. Stern, among many others.

Nationality

American

Related News

Celebrating the centennial of Paul Rudolph

Newsletter, docomomo

October 25, 2018

Umbrella House Named to National Register

News, Sarasota

May 03, 2019

Explore Modern Houses Partnership expands

Explore Modern

October 15, 2019

Glass House joins Explore Modern Houses Partnership

Explore Modern

November 08, 2019

Liljestrand House joins Explore Modern Partnership

Membership, Hawaii, Explore Modern

December 06, 2023

Related chapter

Florida

Related Sites

Completion

1948

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