The unique "Cookie House" was built c. 1931 by John Foster Bass, Jr. (1897-1939) founder of the Bass Biological Laboratory and Zoological Research Supply Company, to serve as his personal office and laboratory near the Bass home on New Point Comfort Road near Gottfried Creek. The Bass operation was the first full-time land-based marine station on the Florida mainland, where eminent naturalists, biologists and zoologists studied and identified at least 470 marine and terrestrial animals between 1931 and 1944.
The log "stovewood" construction technique and architectural style of the small one-story Cookie House are rare. Once popular among rural Wisconsin immigrant populations, no other examples are known in Florida. This practical pioneer building technique utilized local resources. Log disks cut from lighter knot pine logs were stacked on edge in cement mortar mixed with beach sand, leading to an appearance resembling brown cookies on a white plate.