A Lustron Home in Maize Yellow

Lustron houses are prefabricated enameled steel houses developed in the post-WWII era in response to the shortage of homes for returning G.I.s by Chicago industrialist and inventor Carl Strandlund (1899-1974).  Strandlund was most noted for inventing and promoting the Lustron house .. U.S. Patent 2,416,240.  2,498 homes were built from 1948-1950 at a large assembly plant in Columbus, Ohio through financing from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.  The Lustron plant assembly line was some 9 miles long and the plant consumed more power than the rest of the entire city of Columbus! 

Mismanagement, politics and corruption were blamed for the downfall of Lustron which shut down amid foreclosure and bankruptcy in 1953.  As of 2004, the majority of the 2,498 Lustron homes built were still standing with fifty Lustrons having been placed on the National Register of Historic Places.  

In a September 12, 1982 Minneapolis Tribune article, Strandlund's widow, Clara related how Strandlund reacted to the closure of Lustron. Production delays, the lalck of a viable distribution strategy and the escalating prices for the finished product all contributed to the failure of Lustron.  Lustron managed to install many homes (of the 45,000 it promised) before declaring bankdruptcy.  1,500 of houses still remain today. 

"My husband, Carl was physically and mentally destroyed.  Everything we had went.  They took everything, but our home".

Clara Strandlund 

The largest assembly of Lustrons in one location was in Quantico, Virginia where 60 were installed at the U.S. Marine Corps military base.  All Westchester Deluxe models, they came in four colors.*  Major remodels in the 1980s resulted in some of them being painted different colors than the colors offered by Lustron.  In January 2006, it was announced that the homes which had grown "too small for most families" would be eliminated from base housing and would be given away.

Fifty-eight of Quantico's Lustron homes were offered for free (with an application) yet only one individual came forward to acquire a home which was disassembled and moved to storage in Delaware. Twenty-three of Quantico's Lustrons were sadly demolished in 2006 and an additional thirty-four homes were razed in 2007.  The two remaining homes at the base are now on the National Register of Historic Places and are currently used as maintenance buildings.

Prefabricated housing existed before the Lustron home came on the market.  However, it was Lustron's promises of assembly-line efficiency and modular construction that set it apart from its competitors. These homes stood out next to more traditional dwellings made of wood and plaster.

Lustron homes were usually built on concrete slab foundations with no basement.  However, about 40 Lustron homes have been reported to have basements.  Their sturdy steel frame was constructed on-site and the house was assembled piece-by-piece from a special Lustron Corporation delivery truck.  The assembly team who worked for the local Lustron builder-dealer followed a special manual from Lustron and were supposed to complete a house in 360 man-hours! 

*The Ohio History Connection recognizes four exterior colors:  surf blue, dove gray, maize yellow and desert tan. Window surrounds were primarily ivory-colored although early models used yellow trim on their surf blue models.  

The interiors were designed with an eye toward the modern age, space-saving and ease of cleaning.  All Lustrons had metal-paneled interior walls that were most often gray.  All the interior walls were made of steel so pictures could be secured with magnets!   

There are at least 3 Lustron homes in Chautauqua County and one of them is for sale.  If interested, call 716-386-2107 and I can provide the owner's name and contact information.  There used to be 4 Lustron houses though the one in Westfield on the corner of Bliss and Elm was moved to Eden, NY though the slab foundation is still there.