The House of the Future: The Lustron House History -DeKalb History Center

when i tell you a house is 71 years old do you automatically think of how much deferred maintenance it might have imagine a house that never needed to be repainted or have its roof replaced you do not need to go any farther than decatur georgia to find one of these unicorns the neville and helen farmer house located at 513 drexel avenue in decatur was erected in the fall of 1949. their one-story side-gabled house from the lustren corporation had just under eleven hundred square feet of living space they paid ten thousand dollars for the house and lived in it for twenty years twenty two lestern houses were built in georgia with ten of those in the atlanta area this video includes images of lester houses from all over the country a lester house was erected on the new owner's lot which needed to have the site work and concrete slab completed some other expenses not included in the purchase price were plumbing electrical water sewer gas and landscaping it usually took a contractor two weeks to complete the house although often referred to as a ranch house it has much in common with the american small house and these two types did overlap in the 1950s like the american small house the lustren house is compact one story and has little wasted space on the interior the small house usually contained four to six rooms had very small hallways and might have a small porch the lustre house does not have a well-defined architectural style while the american small house was built in a variety of styles its conventional design was meant to have broad popular appeal but it was panned by architectural critics of the time while it is a plain house it still shines with modernity it was innovative in the materials and production just not in its aesthetic design the farmers chose the westchester deluxe model which had two bedrooms upgrades and built-in furniture nearly every part of this house is steel covered in enamel the interior and exterior walls the ceilings and the built-in furniture only the flooring was the choice of the buyer four non-fading exterior colors were available the farmer's house was maize yellow buyers could also select desert tan dove gray or surf blue the interiors were a combination of maize yellow or dove gray panels in various shapes the windows are all aluminum and the small bay window in the living room was part of the deluxe package even the tiles on the low-pitched roof are steel and covered in brown porcelain the main entrance to the house is reached by a small integral porch which features the only real flourish the zigzag trellis following the deprivation and sacrifice of the great depression and world war ii people in the united states looked for an optimistic future mass-produced housing seemed like a component to a brighter life the less strong corporation was created out of a desire to offer fast and cheap housing to the millions of soldiers returning from war this really was a critical need many of these gis were ready to get married buy a home start a family and join the civilian workforce president truman saw an opportunity to help the economy and address the housing shortage through a new industry pre-fabricated housing touted as the house america has been waiting for would the lustron corporation's plan be the affordable answer unfortunately not all returning gis had the same access to the lustron vision contributing to institutionalized racism the federal government began to formally segregate american housing with the new deal it was primarily done by refusing to insure mortgages in and near african-american neighborhoods also known as redlining this meant that black americans were excluded from the housing benefits of the gi bill the gi bill did not explicitly exclude black soldiers from housing benefits but the federal housing administration did in this way black americans were also excluded from gaining wealth through increasing home values across decades reflecting this time period african americans were not featured in any lustron advertising a lestron house was made out of 12 tons of steel and 1 ton of enamel the factory in columbus ohio mass produced about 3 300 parts per home the prefab parts were numbered and shipped partially intact on trucks the house came with assembly instructions but this was usually done by a contractor and if this is sounding like an advanced ikea project to you you should know that the entire operation was the brainchild of a swedish-born inventor carl strandland he had come to the united states with his parents when he was only four years old but had become a successful businessman a great part of the appeal was reduce maintenance since the exterior and interior finishes were baked on you would never need to paint and could even clean it with a hose this corrosion resistant surface was promoted as immune to decay rust rodents and fire and it would not be eaten by termites however rust can actually occur if the porcelain coating is damaged which exposes the steel to moisture these houses really were designed with innovative amenities but some of these ideas did not work the space efficiency in this tight little house might again remind you of an ikea showroom ample storage was achieved in the westchester deluxe which had five closets plus the master bedroom had an entire wall for storage a centered built-in vanity was flanked by vertical closets above that you had 12 linear feet of overhead storage pocket and sliding bypass doors also maximized space the second bedroom was slightly smaller and had a closet with two pocket doors and storage cupboards overhead the house featured an early open floor plan with the living room leading to the dining room and then the kitchen there were no doors between these spaces the living room featured a built-in recessed bookshelf and mirror combination a built-in china cabinet slash kitchen cabinet also served as a room divider the cabinet included a highly marketed pass-through at the countertop level between the kitchen and the dining room another amenity which is seldom retained in these historic houses was the thor washer and dryer combo located in the kitchen stunningly the clothes washer was also the dishwasher and finally the house included a decent sized utility room which contained the home heating unit the water heater and utilities the lady of the house could choose to keep her ironer her freezer or other appliances in there there was one bathroom for the house early marketing materials advertised that it came with a built-in chest of drawers with a smooth work area on top as an added feature one big design flaw was that the heating system was designed to transmit radiant heat from the ceiling it was not a standard furnace however since heat rises this idea did not work well and received complaints from consumers another drawback was inflexibility of the steel and the design of the house the homes were hard to renovate and repair and customization was not an option and then there were the minor inconveniences for instance you can only attach things to the walls by using strong magnets unless you purchased a picture hanging kit before 1950 you also could not change interior or exterior colors the invention and creation of the lester house combined so many mid-century trends the houses and the production would be streamlined america's middle class was focusing on leisure activities family time and carefree living pursuits that would be enhanced by inexpensive maintenance-free housing with so much promise why aren't their entire neighborhoods of the steel and porcelain house of the future that you could order through a franchise dealership just like a car in 1947 the lustron corporation leased a former wartime airplane plant from the united states government the ohio plant was designed to use assembly line methods similar to those of the automobile industry over the course of about three years the lestron corporation received about 37 and a half million dollars in government loans that would be about 450 million dollars today lustron declared bankruptcy in 1950 and the plant closed in 1951 at first the houses sold for around 9 500 or about 114 thousand dollars today as mentioned this did not include the required infrastructure to finish the house the price was approaching eleven thousand dollars by the time the company went bankrupt while a traditional frame house of the same size and character sold for around eight thousand to ten thousand dollars without requiring infrastructure work so these were not as affordable as strandland had planned the rising price tag was due to the high demand for steel and the increasing transportation costs this also meant that an exact purchase price was hard to quote to the consumer the company never reached their goal of manufacturing 100 houses a day production peaked at about 27 houses a day in 1949 and they were losing about half a million dollars each month by the time production shut down only 2 498 homes were ever erected i hope you've enjoyed this micro tour of the decatur lester house which is also individually listed on the national register of historic places please stay in touch with the dekalb history center by subscribing to our youtube channel becoming a member or liking us on facebook also please visit our website at www.dekaabhistory.org

Channel: DeKalb History Center

Views: 16,563

Rating: 4.851459 out of 5

Keywords: historic dekalb courthouse, dekalb history center, mid century house, lustron house, decatur, dekalb county, architecture, metal house, prefab house, future

Id: I8nQvsv_1sI

Length: 11min 55sec (715 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 23 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/gottokeepondancin]

The house layout at 1:39 is a near exact layout of your house in Sanctuary!

[u/Snifflebeard]

Yes, we know. It's in the wiki too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lustron_house
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/The_House_of_Tomorrow