Two side-by-side steel homes built in 1949 by the Lustron Corporation (a division of the Chicago Vitreous Enamel Corporation) hit the real estate market this June, each for $365,000.
The prefabricated homes—two of the six total Lustron houses located on the 5000 block of Nicollet Avenue (5009, 5015, 5021, 5027, 5047, and 5055)—were built as part of a nationwide response to the housing shortage following World War II, as soldiers returned home and looked to settle down and raise a family.
Chicago inventor and entrepreneur Carl Strandlund designed the homes using porcelain-enameled steel panels, fabricated in Ohio then shipped to various states across the U.S. (as well as other countries) touting low-maintenance, affordable housing. More than 2,000 Lustron homes were constructed in total, with about 20 in Minnesota. Original eye-popping exterior colors included Desert Tan, Dove Grey, Maize Yellow, and Surf Blue.
Besides the Lustron homes on Nicollet Avenue, there are at least three additional Lustron homes in Minneapolis, with two located in South Minneapolis (4900 and 4916 Cedar Avenue) and one in Bryn Mawr (2436 Mount View Avenue).
The homes originally each cost up to $10,000, using a single-level, roughly 1,000-square-foot design that included metal built-in cabinets, closets, and dressers. Though the Lustron Corporation’s intention was to create affordable houses, the complex homes turned out to be too expensive to create, and the business declared bankruptcy in 1950 after it couldn’t repay startup loans from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation.
About 1,500 original Lustron homes still stand today, though many aren’t preserved to the extent of the two currently on the market, as some homeowners made renovations (such as tacking on vinyl siding over the metallic exteriors) to the homes. Several Lustron houses are part of the National Register of Historic Places.
The Lustron home located at 5015 Nicollet Avenue—a Westchester Deluxe model in Dove Grey—features all-new flooring, a remodeled kitchen and bath, and new stacked laundry units, plus a two-car garage also built by Lustron, according to its listing by Heath Bredeson of Re/Max Results. The second property at 5021 Nicollet Avenue, features a mudroom/laundry that is “redesigned for today’s lifestyle,” according to its listing by Tom Parker of Coldwell Banker Realty.
Check out the properties at Re/Max Results and Coldwell Banker Realty.