Lustron Homes Were Mass-Produced With Steel as a 1940s Housing Solution—Here’s Why Only 1,200 Still Stand Today

What if homes could be manufactured like cars? That’s the question inventor Carl Strandlund sought to answer in the 1940s to meet demand for suburban dwellings during the post-World War II housing crisis.Lustron homes, built between 1948 and 1950, were once dubbed “the house of the future.”Designed to be made with materials created on an assembly line, this architectural style used a matter called Lustron—a prefabricated, porcelain-enameled steel named for “luster on steel.”A step beyond the mail-order home kits sold through the Sears catalog decades prior, Lustron homes contained thousands of pieces that were mass-produced, shipped from a factory, and assembled on-site.The assembly-line production wasn’t the only idea Strandlund wanted to replicate from the automotive industry.Loading...Inventor Carl Strandlund created Lustron homes as a solution to the post-World War II housing crisis. LustronHe planned to release new models annually, giving consumers the opportunity to approach the transaction more like car shopping than home ownership, trading in their houses when ready for an upgrade or buying preowned abodes for a lower price.The business model never took off as intended.Acco...