This relocated Lustron home is our headquarters.
The Society's Lustron Home
The Society's headquarters in Whitehall Community Park is a relocated Lustron home that was initially built in 1949 at 5099 Spring Valley Road, in London Ohio, approximately 40 miles west of Columbus. Its owners donated the house to the Society in 2003 so that a garage could be built in its place, adjacent to their new house that was built that same year. The disassembly was completed throughout August - - shortly after a June trip to Fontana, Wisconsin, to retrieve a roof from another Lustron slated for demolition. (The original roof of the London Lustron had been replaced in the early 1970s with conventional asphalt shingles.) Parts were moved using members' cars, trucks and trailers, including a massive flatbed that is used to transport earth-moving equipment. Parts were placed in various donated storage locations in Whitehall. The City and its Parks and Recreation Department offered the site of an unused volley ball lot at the south end of Whitehall Community Park for location of the structure. Ground was broken on June 15th, 2005, and a foundation was prepared later that year - - all through donations of money, materials and labor.
The house is characteristic of the City's post-war suburban expansion that included construction of many new subdivisions filled with entry-level housing. The city first was incorporated as a village in 1947, the same year that Lustron Corporation acquired the mammoth former Curtis-Wright Aviation facility at 4200 East Fifth Avenue, immediately adjacent to the City's northern boundary. Lustron Corporation was the endeavor of Chicago businessman and engineer Carl Strandlund, who sought to provide mass-produced affordable homes to address a pent-up demand for housing in the post World War II era. It operated only until 1950, when it was forced into bankruptcy following default on a payment toward a government loan to the corporation. Some 2,500 of the houses were produced and shipped throughout the country east of the Rocky Mountains. Lustrons have been called the "most recognized" of prefabricated homes, and enjoy an iconic status among owners and fans throughout the country. The Society co-hosted in 2004 a very successful Lustron Preservation conference in Whitehall, and remains active in Lustron preservation. To learn more about the fascinating story of the Lustron Corporation, visit www.lustronpreservation.org. Also, visit the Ohio History Center to see its full-size Lustron at the center of its 1950s exhibit inside the museum. http://www.ohiohistory.org/exhibits/ohio-history-center-exhibits/1950s/about. Our volunteers helped to build it!
The Society's headquarters in Whitehall Community Park is a relocated Lustron home that was initially built in 1949 at 5099 Spring Valley Road, in London Ohio, approximately 40 miles west of Columbus. Its owners donated the house to the Society in 2003 so that a garage could be built in its place, adjacent to their new house that was built that same year. The disassembly was completed throughout August - - shortly after a June trip to Fontana, Wisconsin, to retrieve a roof from another Lustron slated for demolition. (The original roof of the London Lustron had been replaced in the early 1970s with conventional asphalt shingles.) Parts were moved using members' cars, trucks and trailers, including a massive flatbed that is used to transport earth-moving equipment. Parts were placed in various donated storage locations in Whitehall. The City and its Parks and Recreation Department offered the site of an unused volley ball lot at the south end of Whitehall Community Park for location of the structure. Ground was broken on June 15th, 2005, and a foundation was prepared later that year - - all through donations of money, materials and labor.
The house is characteristic of the City's post-war suburban expansion that included construction of many new subdivisions filled with entry-level housing. The city first was incorporated as a village in 1947, the same year that Lustron Corporation acquired the mammoth former Curtis-Wright Aviation facility at 4200 East Fifth Avenue, immediately adjacent to the City's northern boundary. Lustron Corporation was the endeavor of Chicago businessman and engineer Carl Strandlund, who sought to provide mass-produced affordable homes to address a pent-up demand for housing in the post World War II era. It operated only until 1950, when it was forced into bankruptcy following default on a payment toward a government loan to the corporation. Some 2,500 of the houses were produced and shipped throughout the country east of the Rocky Mountains. Lustrons have been called the "most recognized" of prefabricated homes, and enjoy an iconic status among owners and fans throughout the country. The Society co-hosted in 2004 a very successful Lustron Preservation conference in Whitehall, and remains active in Lustron preservation. To learn more about the fascinating story of the Lustron Corporation, visit www.lustronpreservation.org. Also, visit the Ohio History Center to see its full-size Lustron at the center of its 1950s exhibit inside the museum. http://www.ohiohistory.org/exhibits/ohio-history-center-exhibits/1950s/about. Our volunteers helped to build it!
The house was disassembled in August, 2003 at 5099 Spring Valley Road, London, Ohio.
June 15, 2005: Groundbreaking ceremony with a cake bearing the image of the house's actual Lustron identification plate.
Former bathroom and bedrooms now serve as meeting space.
The Lustron Plant, 1947. It used more electricity than the entire City of Columbus.
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The last parts are removed from the house's slab. The donors' new home is in the background. A new garage was later built on the Lustron's foundation.
The garage at its original site at 300 South Gould Road, Columbus. Owners Brian & Eric Campbell donated it. Their adjacent Lustron was later disassembled and stored.
Period furnishings and accessories accentuate the living room area.
Curtis-Wright Aviation facility 1942, prior to becoming Lustron's headquarters.
Curtiss-Wright-Video
Click heading above to watch planes being built at the factory in 1941. |
Groundbreaking day: Ward Sager, Jamie Grube, Steve McLoughlin, Lenora Miller, Mayor Lynn Ochshendorf and Norma Ryan.
Member Carl Werther completes a "topping off" of the house when frame construction was complete.
The dinette and kitchen, which featues an original THOR dishwasher/clotheswasher within the sink unit.
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Parts
We have a limited inventory of mostly interior parts that have been salvaged from other Lustrons. (Roof panels are available.) Write to us for more information at whitehallhistsoc@aol.com.
Ohio History Connection Gives Tribute to the Society
The Ohio History Connection (formerly the Ohio Historical Society) has placed a prominent recognition of our group’s contributions made to the construction of the Lustron home that is the centerpiece of its exhibit “1950s: Building the American Dream,” which opened in 2013 at its Columbus headquarters. The tribute is at the exhibit’s entrance on the museum’s main floor, where it can be seen by thousands of visitors to the exhibit, which will run for roughly five years. Trustee Ward Sager and Past President Steve McLoughlin began volunteering for the project in the fall of 2012, and provided hands-on knowledge and expertise to other volunteers and staff at the museum. Its Lustron house was donated by the Board of Arlington County, Virginia, which loaned the house to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan for its 2008 exhibit “Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling.” Steve assisted in that assembly as well, and provided guidance and information to the Board when it first disassembled the house in 2006. (See: ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsbuZmsKGko&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwFonBxpDWs) We are grateful to the Ohio History Connection for choosing to honor us with this recognition.
"The Art of Lustron" Show Benefits Whitehall Historical Society
Artist and Lustron owner Brian Reaume created this "home" rendition, which sold immediately after the opening reception began.
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The gallery displays 35 works by contributing artists, including a wall and window built with actual Lustron parts.
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Columbus Lustron owner and artist Brian Reaume launched a very successful opening reception for his show "The Art of Lustron" in March, 2013. Area artists used Lustron panels as their "canvas" for their creations, which were supplied to Mr. Reaume by the Society. The 35 artists each donated a portion of the proceeds of the sale of the pieces to the Society. No limitations were made to what the artists could create, which ranged from paintings, to sculptural and textural expressions, and even a casual chair. Many of the pieces sold during the reception, and others remain available to view and purchase at the Tacocat cooperative gallery, 937 Burrell Avenue, in the Grandview Heights neighborhood. Yahoo subscribers can view each piece at https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/LustronHomes/photos/albums
