Lustron Homes from the early 1950s

DWalt

DWalt

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My wife received some interesting information from one of her friends on Facebook about Lustron homes located back in our old hometown in southern Ohio. I had never heard of them before. They were prefab homes available in the late 1940s-early 1950s, the interesting thing being that they were pretty much made of enameled steel, inside and out - sort of like living inside a big clothes dryer or refrigerator. Allegedly there were about 3,000 of them made by the Lustron Company in Columbus OH, most of which were sold in Ohio, but also in some other states including West Virginia, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Not many remain. The company went broke after several years. Has anyone else heard of them?
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A good condition Sears house is prized today. They were shipped on railroad flatcars for on-site assembly. All components were pre-cut and numbered for assembly, sort of like "Paint by numbers" and such houses are usually identifiable by looking for numbered lumber visible in the attic.

Many of the post-WWII "Levittown" development homes sold to returning vets used the same idea, basically by setting up a "house factory" on the development site to cut all the wood to specified lengths and shapes, and the houses were nailed together by low-skilled assembly crews - essentially an assembly line in the field. It was very quick and efficient. Much like building Liberty Ships.

Despite there being three Lustron houses remaining in my old home town in Ohio, I didn't know about their existence until my wife got the information on Facebook. The Wiki article fills in a lot of blanks.
 
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I'm in Illinois, and we had 1 or 2 in our city. My wife being an interior decorator was called in to help redecorate one back in about the 90's. It was a real challenge to hang pictures, etc.
 
H Richard said:
I'm in Illinois, and we had 1 or 2 in our city. My wife being an interior decorator was called in to help redecorate one back in about the 90's. It was a real challenge to hang pictures, etc.
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That's what I have understood. The interior walls were also steel panels so you can't drive nails or brads into them to hold wall decorations or shelves. I suppose adhesive hooks might work, or drill holes and use sheet metal screws. I suppose there must have been some way to insulate the outer walls, else it would have been difficult to heat.

Back at that time 1000 SF houses were not that unusual. We once lived for around three years in a house about that size (around 25'x40') dating from the early 1920s, but it had a basement which helped a lot. It had one larger bedroom, two small rooms which could have been used for kids or storage, a small living room, a small kitchen, and one small bathroom. No closets at all. No garage, and almost no lawn - just a small patch of grass in both front and back. We got by OK. By Russian or Chinese standards, it was a mansion.
 
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There were several in the part of town where I grew up: at least a half dozen. Never saw the inside of one, but most were blue exterior, a couple were the sort of beige.
 
DWalt said:
A good condition Sears house is prized today. They were shipped on railroad flatcars for on-site assembly. All components were pre-cut and numbered for assembly, sort of like "Paint by numbers" and such houses are usually identifiable by looking for numbered lumber visible in the attic...
Click to expand...

I saw a Sears house, assembled near a small lake, a number of years ago. The owner told the story about how it was originally the 1-bed ‘kit’ until kids were on the way.

They added another kit for 2 more bedrooms [twins!] and tied the whole thing together with a site-built living room.

I remember the ceilings being less than 8 feet, and the doors being an odd width in the Sears area.
 
H Richard said:
I'm in Illinois, and we had 1 or 2 in our city. My wife being an interior decorator was called in to help redecorate one back in about the 90's. It was a real challenge to hang pictures, etc.
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My friend in our same town owns two or three of them Richard. I've been inside them and think there is an occasional "US Steel" logo. At least one of them still has special brackets you slide into the grooves between panels to hang pictures, etc. He thinks these were bought through Sears.
 
I sort of like the mid-century look. Much of my part of town was developed in the 1960s-70s and there are numerous mid-Century characteristic design homes, but nothing like the Lustrons. My house is a little newer and doesn't have the mid-Century appearance. I always thought it would be neat to have a well-restored house from that period complete with all of the furnishings and interior decor. My wife has a different opinion.
 
I am familiar with them, right from their very start. They are from the 1937
era, not the 1950 era. My father was the foreman, and supervisor, of their electrical wiring line. He wired, or supervised every house that Lustron ever built. I remember, as a boy of around five years old, with my mother, family, and friends, standing in a waiting line that was several city blocks long to see Lustron's Grand opening, display, of their homes. One of their homes was sent to Alaska, and one to somewhere in South America, built, and installed, to ascertain the effects of their extreme weather, on them. A lot of governmental shenanigans, were raised at the time, and ultimately brought about the demise of the Lustron Co. Most of the many Lustron homes, that I've watched grow old over those many, approximately eighty years are still standing, in good condition.
Chubbo
 
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Chubbo said:
I am familiar with them, right from their very start. My father was their foreman, and supervisor, of their electrical wiring line. He wired, or supervised every house that Lustron ever built. I remember, as a boy of around five years old, with my mother, family, and friends, standing in a waiting line that was several city blocks long to see Lustron's Grand opening, display, of their homes. One of their homes was sent to Alaska, and one to somewhere in South America, built, and installed, to ascertain the effects of their extreme weather, on them. A lot of governmental shenanigans, were raised at the time, and ultimately brought about the demise of the Lustron Co. Most of the many Lustron homes, that I've watched grow old over those many, approximately eighty years are still standing, in good condition.
Chubbo
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This is a Zillow listing of a Lustron house not too far from you which has several good interior and exterior pictures. 819 SF. Wow! At least it seems to have a garage, but probably not Lustron.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1121-23rd-St-Portsmouth-OH-45662/78458183_zpid/
 
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Sears Roebuck Company offered complete house kits well into the 1950's, everything pre-cut and numbered for erection on site. Site preparation was limited to a suitable foundation (full instructions provided, as most states had little or no building codes at that time).

In these days of home prices exceeding 100K, and many areas closer to 300K, it is amazing to see what could be done for $2500 and a $200 lot in a decent neighborhood, especially when you had a few good neighbors and friends willing to help out (usually in return for reciprocal help on their own home projects). GI-bill financing provided opportunities for millions of veterans to step up to the position of home-owners and build equity for a generation or two.

Bought my first home in 1970, $9300 purchase price, no money down VA loan at about 7%. Moved onward and purchased my first brand new home for $17,700, no money down VA loan at about 7% in 1972. Last time I checked the assessor's roll that same house sold for $154,000 over 10 years ago.

Built my last home myself, drew up the plans, purchased the lot, had the foundation laid, framed every wall and drove every nail by myself, subcontracted the foundation, HVAC, and drywall work. 4 months of my life, 62K out of pocket, appraised for $119,500 in 1999. Took a 60K permanent VA loan and paid it off in 7 years.

You just have to own your home, even if you order it from a Sears catalog! People saw this 60 years ago, when $30 a month would rent a shack and $40 per month would make you a homeowner. Now it is $1000 per month for a dumpy apartment or $1500 to own something.
 
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The very first house I bought was in Ohio, in 1971, a small fixer-upper for around $9K, which I paid cash for. I put about that much more into it over the next four years, adding another bedroom, a utility room, a garage, and a few other features. I did most of the work myself. I sold it in 1976 for about $30K (it had a 3/4 acre lot). The proceeds of that sale plus another $10K (which I had in the bank) bought me a pretty good house in Texas, free and clear. Due to an intervening oil boom at that time, I sold that house two years later for $65K when I got transferred to another city, and I bought another house there with the proceeds, plus a little more cash, which I had. I repeated that cycle twice more, the result being that I am probably one of the minority of Americans who has owned a home but never needed a home mortgage. It can be done.
 
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JohnHL said:
There are a number of Lustron Homes in the St. Louis, Mo. area.

John
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There is a Wikipedia page which lists the known Lustron houses in the USA, state by state. The Zillow posting I made above (#16) is one which does not appear on the Wikipedia list.
 
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