Sarasota Architectural Foundation has announced it has extended the lease of Ralph Twitchell and Paul Rudolph’s historic 1950 Cocoon House on Siesta Key, allowing for limited public tours now through March 2020. The 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.

Located on Bayou Louise Lane on Siesta Key, the 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.

For more information, visit saf-srq.org/events.