Lustron House

​Consultants working with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet worked to survey this example of a Lustron House in 2025. These investigations documented a Lustron House, a mid-century modern residence, located along West Cumberland Avenue in Middlesboro, Bell County, Kentucky.  The houses produced by the Lustron Corporation (a division of the Chicago Vitreous Enamel Corporation) designed by Swedish immigrant, Carl Strundlund, were prefabricated, modular mass-produced homes with three house models (the Westchester Standard/Deluxe, the Newport and the Meadowbrook) and four different color options (Surf Blue, Dove Grey, Maize Yellow and Desert Tan).  The prefabricated Lustron home featured a skeleton composed of steel frames that were welded into walls and roof trusses.  Porcelain-finish steel architectural panels, patented by Strundlund and first used in gas stations and restaurants, were compressed with plastic seal making the homes air-tight and weather resistant.  The Lustron Corporation took over a former warplane manufacturing plant in Columbus, Ohio for its production facility and employed many war veterans.  Lustron employees would assemble the homes on site.​

​The Lustron house in Middlesboro helps to document one of the measures adopted in the United States to address a housing shortfall with the return of American soldiers following WWII.  Lustron houses, at least in concept, were thought to be a quick, durable and affordable housing solution in the post-WWII era.  The 3000 plus prefabricated pieces would arrive by flatbed truck and could be assembled in a matter of a couple of weeks at a cost of $7,000 - $10,000.  The houses were built primarily in the northeast, the southeast and the Midwest with New Deal funding from the Federal government providing the necessary capital.  Out of 45,000 orders for Lustron homes, only about 2,500 were completed as the company building them went bankrupt in 1950.  Two major factors contributed to this:  the cost of materials like steel was expensive and in terms of basic planning/deliverables, the homes were not delivered on time and could not compete with traditional housing construction which allowed for relatively unlimited customization unlike a Lustron home.  In the post-WWII era, the Lustron home was considered by many potential buyers to be “too modern” and not in keeping with its surroundings.  Even today, the few that remain immediately stand out from the houses around them.  Perhaps the failure of the Lustron house is a cautionary tale for addressing the affordable housing crisis being experienced in the United States today.  Rethinking the suburban experience heavily dependent on private vehicles may be in order.