These iconic Ishee houses are for sale on the Mississippi Coast. Take a look inside
At least four homes from widely admired designer and builder Carroll Ishee are on the market in Ocean Springs, where one Realtor said buyers drawn to “unique property” will love the house she has listed on Nelson Drive, just off Beach Boulevard.
Christie Watson of Weichert Realtors-Gulf Properties was hosting an open house Wednesday at the Ishee house, built in 1973 and on the market for $459,000. Another Realtor, Libby Rickley of Keller Williams, has an Ishee house listed on Brumbaugh Road at $450,000 and built in 1982, the year he died.
Homes that Ishee built in his later and most accomplished years are known for their natural settings. He eschewed the lot clearing so common today, leaving as many trees as possible around a home’s footprint and eliminating the need for a lawnmower.
Both houses include other trademark Ishee features, such as gypsum wallboard with a trowel finish, painted white on walls and ceilings, large windows that flood the rooms with light, unique storage closets with wood strip doors, cedar shake used inside and out, and vaulted ceilings.
He built the house on Brumbaugh for his daughter, Jane Ishee, who died in May. Her house retained her dad’s aesthetic, down to the wood pieces — rather than standard door knobs — used as door handles.
“It really is a jewel box,” said architect Mark Talley, an owner of Tall Architects in Ocean Springs. “A lot of them have had changes or were damaged in hurricanes.”
The firm completed two minor renovations on Ishee houses. Talley and his wife, architect and firm co-owner Madison Talley, admire Ishee’s work. Quality construction was one of his hallmarks.
“We like the houses,” Talley said, “ . . . To me, they’ve always seemed like they were done for Southern California but with a Mississippi Coast scrappiness and flair.”
Ishee’s winding path to homebuilder
Ishee, who was from Hattiesburg, built around 150 houses on the Coast, where he settled with his wife in the late 1940s, says a research paper by Jeff Rosenberg, historic preservation coordinator for the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area.
Ishee came to home design and building in a roundabout way. His degree was in law but he didn’t enjoy the practice, Rosenberg wrote, tracing Ishee’s evolution from real-estate listing agent and project officer to builder and designer. Ishee’s “most uniquely memorable period” began after a serious heart attack in 1963, Rosenberg wrote.
“Hallmarks of his later work included houses built of long lasting, low maintenance materials, often raised above the floodplain and thoughtfully set in unmolested natural landscapes,” Rosenberg wrote. “To this day, local interest in ‘Ishee houses’ remains high . . .
“One of the first things you will be asked if you mention modern architecture along the Mississippi Gulf Coast is, ‘Do you know about Carroll Ishee?’ More than 35 years after his passing, Ishee’s inimitable houses left an impact on modern residential design that still resonates.’
Ishee homes in natural settings
Jonathan Griffin is a big fan. The Keller Williams Realtor toured — and loved — the Ishee house on Nelson Drive.
“When I’m in an Ishee house, I feel like I’m in Palm Springs, California,” said Griffin, who loves the midcentury modern architecture.
The front door opens onto a stunning view of the backyard patio and natural landscaping through wall-to-wall plate glass windows and sliding glass doors that fill the living room with light. The living area is open to a kitchen that draws even more light through plate-glass windows below the vaulted, beamed ceiling.
Griffin noted a rare feature for an Ishee house: the primary bathroom has split vanities and sinks, each with a closet.
The house includes a total of three bedrooms and 1,781 square feet. The list price is $258 a square foot.
The house has undergone some renovations but maintains the character of an Ishee home.
Ocean Springs abode overlooks Davis Bayou
The Ishee house on Brumbaugh Road, where Ishee’s daughter lived, sits on a wooded acre beside Davis Bayou. It includes many features unique to Ishee homes.
Decks upstairs and down overlook the bayou.
A staircase climbs to a concrete walkway that sweeps around to the entry door. Talley said that Ishee formed his own concrete, making it thin so that it appears to float.
Inside, the house features the cork flooring that Ishee often used, natural light flooding in through banks of windows, an open floor plan and quite a few unique twists.. They include a table attached to a tree trunk that runs from floor to ceiling between the kitchen and living area, and a detached pantry with wood strip doors as ascents.
The 1,586 house square-foot house is listed at $284 a square foot.
What’s most special about this house? Location, location, location, says Keller Williams Realtor Libby Rickley. It sits a stone’s throw from Gulf Island’s National Seashore, is in the city’s popular golf cart district — as is the house on Nelson — and the lot is over an acre, offering plenty of privacy.
“You always feel like you’re in a tree house up here,” Rickley said.
