Lustrons:
The Lustron was actually a pretty good house for its time. The Museum of Modern Art had one in an exhibit of prefab architecture last year, which we covered in
Modernism Magazine.
The major thing about a Lustron was that it was an exceptionally well-built house in an era when a lot of so-so construction was going on. The years after WWII were a time when housing was scarce and a time when many new families competed for what was available. Builders didn't have to put much effort into what they sold, and by and large, they didn't. By the late '40s, buyers were looking for quality, and two major efforts were made to give it to them. One was the
LOOK House, sponsored by the magazine of the same name. The
LOOK House was a standardised-plan house that builders meeting certain standards could build under licence and offer under the
LOOK name. It was completely conventional in materials and construction.
The other choice, of course, was the Lustron.
Consumer Reports checked out both the Lustron and the
LOOK House, and liked the Lustron better. The Lustron was made of lower-maintenance materials, had more durable finishes, and was essentially fireproof. There was an incredible amount of closet and storage space in a Lustron, given its limited square footage.
As built, Lustrons were more attractive than most of them are today. The porcelain finish was originally semi-gloss inside, with a less shiny quality than is now the case; time and cleaning have worn the flatting agent off the surface. Luston bathrooms were
very up-to-date in their day, with all-porcelain walls.
Lustron's recommendation for hanging pictures was to drive small brads into the plastic strips between wall panels. Photos of model Lustrons taken when the houses were new show that the houses were very attractive and livable in a late-1940s way. Floors were linoleum or asphalt-rubber tile, which wasn't that uncommon back then, even in living rooms.
The major problem with Lustrons today are rust, neglect and owner attitudes. Rust can occur wherever the porcelain chips or flakes away; the problem is exacerbated by the fact that Lustron used a lower-quality steel than is recommended for porcelain coating today. Neglect and remuddling are big problems; a lot of people have tried to make a Lustron into a more conventional house, and trust me, it does not work.
Everything about a Lustron is different from conventional construction, and there is very little you can pick up at Home Depot to work on it with. The attitude of the owner determines if they'll be happy with a Lustron or not - you have to take a Lustron on its own metallic terms, not spend your time wishing it was something it isn't. Some people never adjust - one Atlanta Lustron owner famously sniffed, "Like livin' in a lunchbox."
There is a Lustron homeowners' discussion group on YahooGroups, and there are plenty of people seeking these quirky houses out and restoring them, or even dismantling them and moving them to save them from McMansion developers. Because of their all-steel construction, they're also favoured by allergy sufferers; they're very easy to keep clean.
If you want to get a sense of what living in a Lustron was like at the time the houses were new, there is a great page on one of the Lustron websites. On it, a guy who bought one new has contributed his family's photos that show it throughout most of the 1950s. I was around in those years, and I can tell you - nothing about that house would have seemed all that weird at the time. I've included a link to the page below.
Here's a photo of a Lustron's living room decorated as a model home sometime around '48 or '49:
www.lustronconnection.org
