A National Homes Survivor

[pulltostart]

I attended an estate sale this morning, which was located in a subdivision called "Morningside" - a subdivision that was built about 1955/1956 and consisted totally of National Homes.  This particular house was a total survivor!  I'm guessing it was built about 1956 (I do not find the exact floor plan in my 1955 catalog) and was apparently purchased (new) by a retired military family, who occupied the home until the parents' death and then was passed down to a son, who has since passed away.

 

The house was packed full of the parents' stuff and the son moved in and added some of his own stuff, but the house was never remodeled.  I would say the only "updates" consisted of the addition of central AC and the addition of a separate clothes dryer (these houses originally featured a combination washer/dryer, located in an interior space, the buyer could select either a GE or a Bendix unit).  The original kitchen is still there - Youngstown cabinets and countertop (base cabinets have painted metal doors, wall cabinets have flush birch doors and one has sliding panels), the kitchen floor is still the original 9 x 9 asphalt tile, the overhead track for the sliding bamboo door between the kitchen and the dining room is still there but the curtain is missing.  The bedroom closets still have their original floor-to-ceiling Modernfold accordion doors; original bath and half bath are there.  The house is built over a crawl space and has 2-1/4" oak flooring.  There is even what is probably the original refrigerator from when the house was built - a Frigidaire.

 

Apparently the occupants of the house were smokers big time.  ALL of the walls and ceilings were coated with nicotine and even with the a/c running the house had a very musty, dated smell.  I was completely captivated by this time capsule house.  I might have to go back tomorrow and take some more pictures.  I am sure the house will go on the market once it's cleaned out.  Very tempting to think about what could be done with it.  Could make a very fun project for me, although I have no idea what the goal would be - live in it?  flip it? rent it out?  Sill  me, I just want to make a museum out of it.  LOL

 

Here are the pics I took this morning.

 

lawrence

 

[washman]

national homes were big in the Midwest. Akin to Ryan homes of W Pee Ay, they got you in a home for a modest amount of money.

The "new" section of Mooresville IN where I grew up is about 95 per cent National homes. We lived in one for almost 5 years. Sure they were basic in every sense of the word, but I truly liked living there and I was a very happy child.

In fact, our model constructed in 1958, is still standing. I think I posted a google map street view once. Thus they couldn't have been that bad to stand the test of time.

 

[tomturbomatic]

When we were traveling through the south, we used to see billboards for Jim Walters Homes. There was usually a sample unit under it.

 

[funktionalart]

Lawrence, I love this post!

Even if you don't wind up buying the house, see if you can at least rescue that Frigidaire!!

 

[pulltostart]

Revisited Today

Couldn't resist going back today.  I couldn't tell that a lot of stuff had been purchased, at least not large items.  The old Frigidaire was still there (not running, dirty seals, and a $200 price tag), not surprising.  I will be watching the real estate listings to see if/when this one appears.

 

I did find this almost identical model in the 1955 line-up.  The differences in this plan and the estate sale house is in the kitchen/dining/utility spaces; the rest of the house matches this plan.

 

I have included the cover of the 1955 catalog.  This is the general genre of the subdivision.  I also took a couple of exterior shots of the front of the house, which I've also included.

 

lawrence

 

[foraloysius]

That's a very efficient design with the bathrooms, the utitily rooms and the kitchen so close to eachother. Quite a big utilityroom too.

 

[pulltostart]

Here are some additional photos of kitchens from 1956 and 1957.  These are factory photos of promotional/model homes, tricked out to the nines, of course.  I doubt that the average National Homes looked like this once occupied.

 

The first one appears to have the same kitchen cabinets as the estate sale house and maybe the same refrigerator.  All Frigidaire appliances.

 

The second photo is of a model home (1956) that was featured in the April edition of Homes & Gardens magazine.  Again, this kitchen features all that a buyer could add, for I believe an additional $900, and included the Frigidaire flip-down cooking units, French door wall oven, undercounter dishwasher, and refrigerator; plus a GE combination washer-dryer.  It also has the pegboard, sliding panel wall cabinet (with identical knobs) that I saw in the estate house.

 

The last photo must be 1957 since it features a Sheer Look refrigerator.

 

lawrence

 

[ea56]

Check out the Melmac dishes on the table in the 3rd picture. We had a set very much like these that Mom got with Blue Chip Stamps, anyone remember those? My Mom's parents moved into a brand new track home in 1956 in Pinole, Calif. and they had that same GE combo. It never worked properly so GE removed the insides from these units from everyone's home in subdivison and gave them all new GE Filter Flo washers with a matching dryer. I recall being intrigued by the turquoise door and control panel to this phantom washer/dryer.
Eddie

 

[wayupnorth]

I still have the original 50's Melmac dishes here I use every day in all the colors, service for at least 24. Dishwasher safe but they get real hot in the microwave, not the food in them. They were obviously invented long before a microwave was even thought of.

 

[vacerator]

Anyone familiar

with Lustron houses?

 

[pulltostart]

Yes

Lustrons make a fascinating read.  I am not aware of any here on the Gulf coast, but knew of a few in Birmingham and several in Atlanta.

 

lawrence

 

[circlew]

I noticed that the Youngstown cabinet handles pictured above look to be the older (pre '53) style. My parents got a new Youngstown kitchen in '53, and some of the cabinets shipped with the new style (wing shape) pulls, and some with the old style. They had the dealer order extra new style ones, and switched them out. National must have special ordered them with the straight pull.

 

[davey7]

Is the range original or a slightly newer model?

 

[washman]

National Homes typically put the bathroom and kitchen right behind each other to minimize plumbing runs and thus save on costs for input H2O and waste drainage.

I think Levittown homes did pretty much the same thing, to minimize costs.

Our model, cannot recall which one, had the bathroom right behind the kitchen. There was a place in the kitchen for the washer; the dryer was to be placed in the garage.

In the link house #21 was ours from 1972-77. It was constructed in 1958. It had 60AMP service, screw in fuses, and the far left family room once was a one car garage.

It originally came with an oil furnace when we moved there, it was already converted to natural gas but the fill and vent tubes for the buried oil tank were in the back yard.

It was like my current home, slab-on-grade, meaning ALL the plumbing and HVAC ducts were in the concrete slab.

If you do the street view and have a look around, ALL the homes you see in the immediate vicinity were National Homes.

http://https//www.google.com/maps/place/21+maryvale+court+mooresville+indiana/@39.621214,-86.372372,3a,75y,185.8h,90.22t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1suDsr21oXEYT2F6aQ0MaGIg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x367cde2d26485369!6m1!1e1

 

[pulltostart]

The range

That range is not original to the house.  I would guess it to be from the 80's maybe.

 

lawrence