Born in Alton, Kansas, Bruce Alonzo Goff was a child prodigy who apprenticed at the age of twelve at the architectural firm of Rush, Endacott & Rush in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In 1929, at the age of 25, Goff became a partner with the firm.

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 became chairman of the school.  This was his most productive period.  In his private practice, Goff designed an impressive number of residences in the American Midwest, developing his singular style of organic architecture that was client-and site-specific. Goff’s design portfolio includes about 500 projects (about one quarter of them built).  Noted project by him include the Bavinger House and the Price House in Oklahoma, the Colmorgan House in Glenview, Illinois, and the Japanese Art wing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Early in his career he did design a home for J.D. Thompson in Spokane (1943), however the house was never built.

Goff’s only completed project in Washington State is the Gene & Betty Taylor House at 173 Ward Street (1976). In 1975, Goff was hired by the Taylor’s to rework a 1920’s era American Foursquare home on south side of Queen Anne Hill in Seattle.

– Michael C. Houser