Ruth Ford House - Aurora, IL
Posted by: 
adgorn
N 41° 45.204 W 088° 21.546
16T E 387007 N 4623289
Another unusual structure designed by Bruce Goff, who used salvaged parts to design this unique residence, and built by Don Tosi.
Waymark Code: WMHQBQ
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 08/04/2013
Views: 6
During WW2, Goff was a Seabee in the Navy, where he learned to be creative in structure design. He learned to shape a space from found materials. His house for Ruth Ford, an American painter, art teacher, and owner of the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, is 1,700 square feet and uses salvaged Quonset hut ribs, skylights made from plexiglass observation domes from surplus aircraft and anthracite coal walls (a solution for the owner's request for black walls in her art studio.)
From an article in Dec 2011 Historic Illinois entitled the "Homes of Builder Don Tosi":
The house includes a circular central living area flanked by two semi-circular bedroom wings.
Acc'd to wikipedia, curiosity seekers peering in her windows eventually forced Ford to sell and move.
Recently the Aurora Historical Society hosted a fundraising day of tours of the home, which is still a private residence (The current owner has actually been there for more than 25 years.)
See some interior photos of the house here: (
visit link)
Learn more about Bruce Goff here (
visit link)
See my other Goff waymarked house in Chicago here (
visit link)
After you visit that, you can pay your respects to Goff in the nearby Graceland Cemetery (
visit link)