Cuba Gooding’s son Mason unveils bold NYC tree house
Cuba Gooding Jr.’s son Mason Gooding has purchased his first home: a renovated 650-square-foot Manhattan “tree house” apartment. Surrounded by courtyard greenery and finished with bold browns, greens, and an aubergine kitchen, the Scream actor’s New York pad marks a deliberate shift from a transient childhood spent visiting his famous father’s film sets.
Key Takeaways
- Mason Gooding, son of Oscar winner Cuba Gooding Jr., bought a roughly 650-square-foot Manhattan apartment as his first home.
- Designer Claudia Roth of Claudia Allegra Interiors helped him lean into bold color—green fireplace tiles, an aubergine kitchen, and outdoor-inspired greens.
- Growing up, Mason said Cuba Gooding Jr. often had to “speed-parent” after long stretches away on film sets.
- As an adult actor himself, Mason says he now has more empathy for his dad’s public-versus-private balancing act.
What did Cuba Gooding’s son do with his first home?
According to Architectural Digest, Mason Gooding recently decided it was time to put down roots as he approaches 30. He chose Manhattan over Los Angeles, citing a love of culture and community “just outside my door.”
He found the listing through his manager after browsing Zillow. The apartment needed renovation but was wrapped in greenery from a neighboring courtyard—what he calls an urban “tree house.”
Gooding enlisted AD PRO Directory designer Claudia Roth early on. He referenced the Ralph Lauren store in SoHo, wanting a space that was “comfortable as well as compelling.” Roth says he was never afraid of color, pushing dark browns and green on the fireplace.
How does the apartment bring the outdoors in?
The living room mixes masculine browns and greens, with Clé fireplace tiles making a bold statement after the oversized fireplace was pared back. The tiny wood-clad kitchen became a more spacious aubergine jewel box, with cabinets in Farrow & Ball’s Brinjal No. 222.
Roth kept original diamond-pattern windows and glass and brass doorknobs. For the bedroom, they used Pierre Frey’s Toile De Nantes Intisse to “bring the outdoors inside.” Gooding kept his record collection—rare Frank Ocean discs included—and saved a lemon-painted kitchen tile from the previous owners as a souvenir.
He still travels for work and to visit girlfriend Emilia Tosta in Austin, but says having a place of his own feels like “a physical manifestation of [myself].”
Why does Cuba Gooding’s parenting still shape Mason’s story?
Separately, Mason reflected on celebrity breaking news territory familiar to Hollywood kids: reconciling a famous parent’s public image with life at home. On The Wildmen Podcast, he told TheWrap he grew up understanding Cuba Gooding Jr. and his late grandfather more through their public personas than private ones.
When his dad returned from long shoots, Mason said he would “speed-parent”—coming home for a week and asking why something was broken, why school was failing, why there was fighting. As a child, he struggled with the gap: “You’re so positive and charismatic in these interviews and then you come home and it’s a different guy.”
Now an actor himself—with credits including Ballers, Booksmart, and Scream—he says he better understands an actor’s fear of leaving home for months while life continues without them. That fuller picture makes the tree-house milestone feel less like a décor flex and more like Mason writing his own chapter after a childhood defined by Cuba Gooding Jr.’s career.