Lustron houses had been a unique sort of dwelling born out of post-World Warfare II innovation and necessity. They had been prefabricated enameled metal homes constructed virtually completely out of enameled metal and shipped to the client’s job website.
These houses had been designed and constructed to deal with the large housing scarcity confronted by returning warfare veterans and their households, providing a novel mix of modernity, sturdiness, and prefabrication methods that had been forward of their time.
On this publish, I’ll share a few of Lustron’s unusual (and really brief historical past), in addition to a few of the very distinctive design options which can be discovered solely in Lustron houses at the moment.
The Historical past of Lustron Properties
Developed by the Lustron Company, based by Carl Strandlund, the Lustron dwelling was actually an ingenious answer to the post-war housing disaster. Strandlund’s imaginative and prescient was to create inexpensive, maintenance-free houses that may very well be rapidly assembled on-site from prefabricated components. The thought of prefabricated houses was not new having been executed to nice success by Sears, Montgomery Ward, and The Aladdin Firm.
What would make Lustron houses distinctive is that they’d be made virtually completely of enameled metal, from their exterior panels to inside partitions, providing a novel (and untried) aesthetic and a bunch of sensible advantages. They had been marketed as being pest-free, fireproof, rustproof, and decay proof, embodying the post-war American dream of dwelling possession with minimal maintenance.
The primary Lustron mannequin dwelling, the Esquire two-bedroom, opened to guests in Chicago on August 11, 1948. Mannequin houses had been subsequently proven in most main cities east of the Rockies and, by the tip of 1949, over 2 million individuals had visited a Lustron.
The homes initially bought for between $8,500 and $9,500, based on a March 1949 article within the Columbus Dispatch—about 25 p.c lower than comparable typical housing, however prices rapidly rose as manufacturing prices couldn’t meet the proposed value level.
Lustron got down to assemble 15,000 houses in 1947 and 30,000 in 1948. The corporate hoped to revolutionize the housing market with its assembly-line effectivity and modular building, however it in the end produced solely 2,498 houses earlier than going bankrupt in 1950.
Regardless of their progressive design and the excessive demand for housing, the Lustron Company struggled with manufacturing prices and logistical challenges. The excessive manufacturing prices, coupled with political and monetary controversies surrounding misuse of presidency cash, led to the corporate’s downfall.
Distinctive Lustron Design
The design of Lustron houses was spearheaded by Chicago architects Morris Beckman and Roy Burton Blass, incorporating trendy architectural parts and environment friendly use of house. The houses featured built-in furnishings, metallic cupboards, and different space-saving options that appealed to the trendy American household.
In complete, there have been three fashions of Lustrons: the Westchester, Newport, and Meadowbrook which ranged in measurement from 713 SF to 1,140 SF. They had been all out there in 4 exterior colours: “Surf Blue,” “Dove Grey,” “Maize Yellow,” and “Desert Tan” although many have been since painted.
What made these houses really distinctive is that the body was constructed of metal steels and has enameled metal panels put in for each the inside and exterior partitions. The enameled metal regarded identical to the floor of tub tub and was proclaimed to be really easy to scrub you merely rinse the partitions down.
Distinctive design parts included the distinctive “zig-zag” porch helps solely discovered on Lustron houses, the tri-partied aluminum home windows with a big middle image window flanked by two smaller casement home windows.
The roof was often metallic tiles, however sometimes asphalt shingles had been used. The entire home was stated to have the ability to be assembled in 360 man hours. The NC Modernist put collectively a booklet primarily based on the unique meeting directions as they tried to disassemble a historic Lustron home in Virginia.
At the moment, solely an estimated 1,500 Lustron houses nonetheless stand, a few of that are listed on the Nationwide Register of Historic Locations. You will discover an interactive map of the present Lustron houses in addition to the houses which have been misplaced to demolition on-line. These houses are rightly cherished by their house owners and preservationists for his or her historic significance and distinctive architectural options. They continue to be the one mass produced metal houses in historical past.
The story of Lustron houses raises intriguing questions in regards to the challenges of innovation in housing, the steadiness between affordability and high quality, and the potential for prefabrication in at the moment’s housing market.
Writer of the ebook Suburban Metal: The Magnificent Failure of the Lustron Company, 1945-1951 Douglas Knerr says. “There’s nonetheless nothing fairly prefer it, and anybody who has ever set foot in a single is prone to bear in mind the expertise.”
As I replicate on the legacy of Lustron houses, I can’t assist however consider the teachings trendy architects and builders can be taught from the Lustron dwelling. Perhaps there’s a technique to mass produce a small and inexpensive dwelling that’s comparatively upkeep free. That’s but to be seen. The questions is, what do you consider Carl Lustron’s creation and may the remaining Lustron homes be preserved?
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I like outdated homes, working with my fingers, and instructing others the excitment of doing it your self! Every little thing is teachable in case you solely give it the possibility.