Leon classmates of 1963 step up to help Spring House at reunion

The Leon High School Class of 1963 celebrated its 55th Reunion on the weekend of March 23 and 24 with a special tour of Lewis Spring House, among other activities.

One of the classmates from 1963, Clifton Byrd Lewis Mashburn is part of Spring House Institute, the group that is currently organizing efforts to restore Lewis Spring House to its former elegance. Spring House was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1952 and built in 1954. It is the only personal residence in the state of Florida designed by Wright.

In 2017, Carolyn Counts Furcolow attended a personal tour of Lewis Spring House with the Tallahassee Lassies, a Red Hat Society Chapter in Tallahassee. The two docents that day were Clifton Byrd Lewis Mashburn and Dee Taggert Bevis. They are both high school classmates of Carolyn’s.

Furcolow has a special interest in Frank Lloyd Wright and has visited many other pieces of his work. She knows that to have a Frank Lloyd Wright building in your hometown is not common, especially in Florida. After her tour, she wanted to do more to help Spring House Institute’s efforts to save the house for public and private uses and as the home of Spring House Institute.

Plans for Spring House are to provide space for a variety of classes to be taught, and several times a year, the house will be available for weekend stays and for other beneficial uses.  

Furcolow later came with her grandson Zack Counts and the two of them helped on a 4th Saturday workday at the house. He washed the stairs and picked up pinecones and raked the yard. Zack, 12, was very impressed with the house and the beautiful grounds. He shared his experience with others and would gladly come to a work day again. Furcolow was very proud of him. 

Four and a half years had passed since the last reunion for the Leon High School 1963 class and it looked like maybe there might not be a 55th Reunion. Furcolow decided she would see what she could do about that and volunteered to chair the committee. She remembered the earlier tour and what fun it had been.

Carolyn got the idea of including Lewis Spring House Tours as part of the reunion activities. Dee Bevis and Byrd Lewis Mashburn, board members of Spring House Institute, were requested to arrange two tours for their classmates at the house as part of the reunion weekend. They arranged for a special donation price going to their classmates to tour the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed private residence. The house was also the childhood home of their classmate known to them in high school as Clifton who now goes by Byrd.   

Delighted to be asked, Spring House Institute prepared the house and grounds for Dee and Byrd’s classmates’ visit. Part of the purpose of tours is to let people know who Frank Lloyd Wright was in the history of architecture, where Lewis Spring House fits in his legacy, and why the house is important not only to Tallahassee but to the State of Florida and the Country. 

The tours were very much enjoyed by classmates who had never seen the house except to attend parties during their school days. Many learned a great deal about Frank Lloyd Wright and his work. The design of Lewis Spring House is very special and is one of only two pod-shaped houses Mr. Wright designed.

The Leon High School Class of 1963 donated to this effort and we hope other schools and classes will join us in the effort to save this important piece of history, architecture and art in our hometown.