09/22/2026
BONUS HOME REVEAL 🗝️
We have one more door to open.
When we first started planning the Ocean Springs Tour of Homes, we hoped it would be a special day for our community and an opportunity to support an even more special cause. The response has meant so much to us, so as a thank you to everyone who has purchased a ticket and supported the tour, we’ve added a fifth home.
And what a home it is.
Meet the Charnley-Norwood House.
Built along East Beach in 1890–1891, the home was designed by renowned Chicago architect Louis Sullivan and is closely associated with his young draftsman, Frank Lloyd Wright. Commissioned as a winter retreat for James and Helen Charnley, its design was remarkably different for its time.
Rather than borrowing from the European styles popular in the late 1800s, the home embraced its surroundings. Its low profile, broad porches, flowing rooms, and natural materials created a distinctly American style shaped by the landscape and Gulf Coast climate, ideas that would help foreshadow modern American architecture.
Frederick and Elizabeth Norwood purchased the home in 1896. After a fire destroyed it the following year, it was rebuilt under Sullivan’s direction with rare curly longleaf pine throughout the interior. The Norwoods called the estate “Bon Silene.”
More than a century later, the Charnley-Norwood House still stands along East Beach. After Hurricane Katrina severely damaged it in 2005, the State of Mississippi purchased and restored the home. Today, it is protected as a Mississippi Landmark and managed by the Mississippi Gulf Coast National Heritage Area.
On October 17, this remarkable piece of Ocean Springs history becomes the fifth and final home on our tour.
A little something extra to say thank you for making our first Tour of Homes so special. 🤍
