Lustron owners are scrambling to find some kind of make-do replacement parts for these rollers. Tooling the factory was more difficult and expensive than originally estimated and the initial $12.5 million government backed loan did not cover start-up expenses. The worst part about living in a Lustron is that you cant find repair materials anymore, he said. Call Jim Morrow at (219) 926-3669 to discuss the home or to arrange for a tour during off-season or off-hours, or write to him at P.O. Lustrons were designed to be built on a slab, with the exterior steel walls carrying the weight of the house. (Photo: Historic American Building Survey) Lustron promoted their homes as maintenance-free. The house at 6 W. Lamartine St. is Knox County’s last remaining Lustron Home. Choosing the best realtor for your old house, How to protect your old house after you're gone. Some owners use automotive paste-wax on the walls to renew the shiny finish. TIA. Original floor plan for a two-bedroom Lustron home. Choosing the best realtor for your old house, How to protect your old house after you're gone. Or was the Lustron Home the victim of political ambitions and trade union greed as a film by Bill Kubota, Ed Moore and Bill Ferehawk suggests? Far more of Lustrons time had to be devoted to warding off these attacks than handling the normal day-today problems -- (p. 132, The Lustron Home). Each home was made up of a series of panels that are bolted together. I think about moving every now and then, but my son says, Mom, youre going to stay in this house until you die. In his book, The Lustron Home, Tom Fetters suggests that the company was brought down in part by jealous trade unions and builders. Vowing to mass-produce steel houses at the rate of 100 a day, Strandlund landed $37 million in government loans. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation, a federal agency created in 1932 to jump-start economic recovery, approved Strandlunds ideas, giving him a a $12.5 million dollar loan to start his new business. As a result of heavy spring snow melts in April 1997, the States of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota endured immense flooding along the Red River. But Strandlunds Lustron Company produced just 2,500 of these homes of the future, before declaring bankruptcy in 1950. Of those 70 homes, only three needed roofing work in the last five decades, and each of those was due to storm damage. Assembly time at the site was less than 300 man-hours. Lustron owners found that despite the company's claims, the laws of physics prevailed. The shiny new Lustrons cost $6,000 - $10,000 (not including building lot) and were manufactured in the Columbus factory in about 400 man-hours. This success is a result of the hard work of all of the participants and the teamwork exemplified in carrying out the Section 106. The first Lustron home rolled off the assembly line in March 1948. It will never face, crack or peel. I’ll be moving into a Lustron home, and a couple of panels are rusting. It was inevitable that the hunger for new technologies and scientific ways would hit the architectural scene and create a radically new house. The City of Grand Forks, North Dakota, used the FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program for the removal of the historic Lustron house from its site in the 100-year floodplain near the Red River. The exposed steel (interior and exterior walls and roof) would have a porcelain-enamel finish, a hard, glass finish baked onto the steel panels and roof shingles. But in spite of the interest, Strandlunds company was mired in financial problems. >> Part 2: "Metal Homes without Wheels">> Part 3: Oral History -- Lustron homes: Proving their mettle after 50 years>> Part 4: Moving (and saving) a Lustron home>> Part 5: St. Louis Lustrons>> Part 6: Living in a Lustron -- and loving it. Their architectural prototype was a two-bedroom, 1,000-square foot home with an exterior sheathing made of 2-foot square steel panels. Nearly 3,000 of these homes were built in 18 months, though only a fraction of them still remain, many in the Midwest. Jim Morrow's Lustron in Chesterton, Indiana. Note the original gutter and bracket on this Lustron. Josh and I purchased this house the end of last May. The dealers were responsible for selling and construction, including acquiring the land and preparing the site. >> Part 1: "Never before in America:" The invention of the Lustron>> Part 2: "Metal Homes without Wheels">> Part 3: Oral History -- Lustron homes: Proving their mettle after 50 years>> Part 5: St. Louis Lustrons>> Part 6: Living in a Lustron -- and loving it, Part 1: "Never before in America:" The invention of the Lustron, Part 3: Oral History -- Lustron homes: Proving their mettle after 50 years, Part 6: Living in a Lustron -- and loving it, Old house insulation: common problems and solutions, Energy efficient and authentic: home windows for old house styles, Old house winterizing: Be ready when the temperature drops, Old house additions: how to add on a sunroom, Taking the rebate: How to score incentives for home retrofit projects, 6 of America's most popular old home styles, How to turn an old playhouse into a chicken coop. And sadly, many Midwestern cities (which is where most Lustrons can be found), have a story to share about a Lustron that has been or soon will be demolished. This project involved a statewide survey of more than 95 Lustron homes … Nor, as it turns out, was there ever again a house like the Lustron. But wartime restrictions on steel were still in place and federal regulators turned down Strandlunds request in 1946. How popular opinion turned against Strandlund remains controversial. In North Carolina, a Lustron home could be purchased for a price between $4440, again for the two-bedroom Newport, to $7087 for the three-bedroom Westchester Deluxe. Originally he hoped to obtain enough steel to start construction on millions of dollars worth of steel-paneled gas stations for Standard Oil and other corporate clients. According to Lustron Corporation documents, 35 Lustron Homes were sold within the state of North Carolina. It is one of approximately 200 left in the state, according to Ohio History Connection, with roughly 2,000 remaining nationwide. The homes also cost more to produce than expected, and the retail price grew well beyond the original $7,000 figure. Dealers needed $50,000 to $100,000 to get started. Strandlund didnt start out to build houses. Photo: Jack Boucher, Historic American Building Survey, 1994. This pair of Lustrons sits on a large farm in southwest Illinois. She and her son, Philip, love their two-bedroom Lustron. To other parts of this story. The house now awaits reconstruction at its new site. It’s a humble ranch built in a Columbus, Ohio, airplane factory and delivered by truck, yet its design was celebrated at the MoMA in 2008. Many of the furnaces were soon replaced with traditional forced air systems with ductwork and registers in every room. From FEMA's standpoint, the project was successful in achieving hazard mitigation goals - removing people and property from an area subject to frequent flooding - and preserving a unique facet of twentieth century history. Meanwhile Federal Housing Administration financing procedures slowed down the approval of mortgages, hampering quick sale of the homes. Model homes were built throughout the Midwest and curious visitors and potential buyers tromped through the prefab homes by the thousands. Despite a plan to produce thousands of pre-fabricated structures, production fell far short of the goal, with only about 2,500 Lustron homes built, leading to the demise of the company in 1950. Note: This page is part of a series on Lustron homes. A handful of the homes were built over basements, but this required the design assistant of an architect or structural engineer. The extent of the damage to residential areas quickly caused a critical housing shortage in the City, and created unusual hardships for low-income households, especially for those individuals and families without flood insurance. He might be right. This St. Louis Lustron is in nearly mint condition with its original siding and roof, validating the company's claims of a durable and low-maintenance home. Lustron garages are similar to the house, but there are some construction differences. Fifty years after these houses were built, owners find that they were unusually well built and well designed. Everyone from congressmen to consumers began questioning the financial feasibility of the Lustron Company. The fact that none of these (1930s steel homes) systems achieved commercial success does not necessarily prove that none of them will ever do so. SARASOTA -- An oddity of housing history, a metal house at 1805 Datura St. is about to be evicted. This was supposed to be how the radiant heat worked. The dining room had a built-in buffet and pass through to the kitchen. The Lustron Corporation was only able to produce about 2,500 of these houses before they were forced to close. The Carlisle School District has a Lustron home located on it’s property, and has donated it to the Historical Society if that group can move the house to a new location. He reportedly was financially and physically ruined by the failure of his company, and lived in relative obscurity until his death in 1974. St. Louis resident and Lustron aficionado Tom Bakersmith has documented 70 Lustrons in the St. Louis area. The process proved a successful alternative to demolition, thus minimizing the "adverse effect" to the Lustron House. In November of 2006, Landmark Consulting was commissioned by Historic Albany Foundation and funded by a PreserveNY grant to locate, research, document and nominate the Lustron Houses throughout the state that were worthy of recognition and preservation to the State and National Register of Historic Places. One of the largest collections of Lustrons is at Quantico, a Marine base in Virginia. Strandlund then turned his energies to demonstrating that houses could be built quickly, efficiently and economically with these same steel panels. Almost all of the parts in these houses were steel, and the panels used for the interior and exterior walls, the ceiling, and the roof were coated with porcelain enamel. Many suggest that Strandlunds Lustron was an idea ahead of its time. The first time Todd Zeiger heard of a Lustron house he was in college, where one of his historic-preservation classes focused on post-World War II homes designed to assuage housing shortages for returning GIs. One of the many residences inundated by floodwaters along Lincoln Drive in Grand Forks was the Lustron House, a three-bedroom pre-fabricated steel house built in the 1950s. Many of these houses have been lost over the past fifty years, and most of the remaining houses are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. For example, the house is entirely steel construction, whereas the garage is all wood construction. The homes cost the dealers $6,000 each and had to be bought in large quantity. Because of the war and the 12-year depression preceding it, very few new homes had been built since 1929, resulting in a severe housing shortage for soldiers returning from WWII. The City of Grand Forks divided the project into three phases, of which FEMA participation was limited to Phase I: Although the house originally took thirty days to assemble, it was taken apart in nine days in the Spring of 2001. It turns out that the Lustron home was too good to be true. Morrow purchased the home in 1990, and was so intrigued by history of the Lustron that he turned the home into a museum. After World War II, the Lustron Corp. produced prefabricated steel homes that could be shipped throughout the country and assembled on the homeowner’s property. According to Tom and other Lustron-lovers, the best part is that the houses are nearly maintenance free. At the end of 1949, Lustron had 234 dealers, located in 35 states. Only 2,500 were made over two years, and very few stand today. The factory turned out only twenty-six a day, with 50 needed to break even. The first Lustron house was produced in March 1948. It is so much fun to have a Lustron. But one of the most promising ventures was the Lustron Home by businessman and inventor Carl Strandlund. Stories and photos by Rosemary ThorntonContributing editor, The Old House Web. Never before in America a House Like This, read the 1949 Lustron advertisement in that venerable chronicle of American life, The Saturday Evening Post. These parties agreed that it was important to preserve this house, and the recommended method included dismantling the house and relocating it to another location. The federal government quickly passed legislation banning non-essential construction so that all materials and labor could be diverted to the immediate need of supplying new housing. The luxury of a built-in dishwasher left the lady of the house plenty of time to sit and admire her modern living room, in this promotional photo. In 1950, the RFC foreclosed on Lustron and this grand and ambitious housing experiment came to an abrupt halt, leaving behind 2,680 all-steel houses, a $37.5 million debt to the federal government and thousands of unfilled orders and disappointed customers. The tours are free, but donations are welcome. The company claimed, The entire ceiling is the source of smooth, even heat. Lustron Homes took the U.S. by storm in the late 1940s, as they helped remedy the nation’s post-war housing crisis. MOUNT VERNON – Seventy years to the day, the Lustron home on Lamartine Street in Mount Vernon was rededicated with a blessing by a descendent of the original homeowner/builder. The Lustron House Project. Price varied even within the state of North Carolina. A half century later, speculation about the events leading to the demise of the company remains. Built-ins abounded, accounting for 20 percent of the total interior space. When a Lustron house located in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore was slated for demolition, ... Carl Sandburg was Vice President of Sales for Lustron homes. See more ideas about prefab homes, prefab, house. A utility room off the kitchen housed the hot-water-heater and also the furnace. Thomas Fetters, in his book Lustron Homes: The History of a Postwar Prefabricated Housing Experiment, interviewed former Lustron Vice President Joe Tucker, who said, “[The government foreclosure] broke everybody’s heart. The All-Steel Historic Home, 411 Bowser Avenue, Chesterton, is open for tours from 1:00 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. central time Tuesday through Sunday from 1 May through 30 October. Since the homes were sold through distribution systems, similar to the automobile industry, dealers had to have sufficient capital to buy vacant lots, pour concrete foundations, and run utility lines to the houses. We are proud of Region VIII's efforts to advocate historic preservation in its mitigation projects. The exterior color options were pink, tan, yellow, aqua, blue, green and gray. Lustrons, I’ve heard, can get all sorts of critters in them, usually into the attic through gap in panels, or into the access panels in the utility room through gaps along the side of the house. Dec 5, 2020 - Explore Carol Dustin's board "Lustron Homes" on Pinterest. He died on Christmas Eve in 1974. Lustron houses are unique examples of the nation's response to housing shortages following World War II. It took 350 hours to construct the Lustron, still far less than for a conventional home, but much more than the 150 hours first estimated. Once an order was received, the materials moved from the warehouse and were delivered, literally in stacks, on the property. "An old fellow who lives down the street told me that he remembers watching this home being built," says Bell. The houses dont wear out, but the door rollers (for the sliding doors) wear out. The low-maintenance, ultra-modern homes fascinated Americans. They were prefabricated in an abandoned bomber factory, using many of the materials and techniques developed and employed during the war. Ronald Rehfeld on November 10, 2019 at 7:05 PM Through an old newspaper column, I was alerted to a Lustron house being built in a small community close to me, in the 1950s. A total of 2,498 Lustron Homes were manufactured over the next two years. Despite the company's claims of smooth, even heat from the radiant ceiling panels, most Lustron home owners found the system cold and uncomfortable. Sunlight, salt water or chemical fumes cannot stain or fade the homes finish. Think about it. The kitchen was an engineering marvel all its own. According to Bethany Emenhiser’s November 19, 2016, Homes story, only about half of the 2,680 Lustron homes manufactured between 1948 and 1950 still remain throughout the United States, and about 180 still exist in Indiana. Despite the lack of maintenance, these two homes have endured the 50 plus years in fairly good condition. In addition, the Grand Forks Historical Society agreed that the house could be reconstructed on the property of one of its museums. Politicians questioned the wisdom of giving more federal money to Strandlund, whose company failed to file required reports with federal lending agencies. Only 2,500 remain, and we found seven on the market. Working with Strandlund, Chicago architects Roy Burton Blass and Morris H. Beckman sketched out some ideas for an all-steel, prefabricated, bungalow-flavored home. If youre fussy, you can hose them down and scrub them with a brush. Price varied even within the state of North Carolina. Many of the Lustron homes left standing after 50 years still bear their original siding and roofs as well as many inside features such as built-in cabinets. According to Tom Fetters book, The Lustron Home, the manufacture of one Lustron required 12 tons of steel and one ton of enamel. “There aren’t very many of these houses […] After a model Lustron was completed in Chicago on August 11, 1948, more than 50,000 people toured the home, according to Fetters book. Since heat rises, however, most Lustron residents found the ceilings hot in their homes and the floors cold. The master bedroom had a built-in vanity, with large drawers and additional storage space overhead. In addition, the flood and fires leveled at least half of the City's downtown. Architects who designed the Lustron home were intent on using every square inch of space efficiently. The entire structure would be steel framing, interior and exterior walls, roof trusses and roof tiles. Ambitious brochures and advertisements called it The newest kind of heating for the newest kind of house. Across the country, about 2,500 Lustron homes were built between 1948 and 1951, far short of the more than 32,500 a year that Lustron founder Carl Strandlund envisioned. One the contrary, many were excellent and failed not for technical reasons, but because of merchandising and financial difficulties. A ceiling-mounted, oil-fired hot air furnace heated the metal ceiling tiles which would then heat the entire house. The prefabricated design allowed them to be mass produced on the cheap. It featured a built-in, under-the-sink Thor washing machine that, with the installation of a special rack, did double-duty as a dishwasher -- a futuristic luxury at the time. At this date, the house components have been cleaned and stored, and the original site of the house has been restored to green space. What things in your home will your grandkids make fun of? Even with additional loans, the company was unable to produce the promised 100 houses a day. Serious cost overruns and production problems added fuel to the fire.