Has Oklahoma lost an architectural treasure?

The unrepeatable experience that is Bruce Goff's Bavinger House appears to be gone now - whether forever or not, I do not know.

According to a story in The Oklahoman, the house recently sustained serious and extensive damage. For many years I read that the Bavingers were a private family and did not allow visitors. I did not know that the house had been open to the public in the last few years. Had I known this, I certainly would have made the pilgrimage.

I can't help but wonder about the effectiveness of Bob Bavinger's effort to promote the house as a tourist attraction. I have been on an email list for Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower for some time now. The first I ever heard about the Bavinger House being opened to the public was this morning when I read the story about the damage.

If the damage to the Bavinger House is irreparable, the loss will certainly be equal to that of Shin'enKan, the house Goff designed for Joe Price outside of Bartlesville, which was detroyed by fire in 1996.