I was delighted when I saw it from the window of the bus today. Tucked away next to the railroad tracks, where Long Street meets Many Penny Avenue is a lonely Lustron Home.
As a kid, I used to pass two or three of them that had been placed along Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis. They captured my attention then, as I thought it would be so cool to live in such a “modern” house.
After a bit of searching this evening, I discovered that these “modern” homes were made right here in Columbus between 1949 and 1950.
WOSU Stations did a great documentary on the Lustron home a couple of years ago – check it out here:
http://www.wosu.org/archive/lustron/index.php
Jeff-
Here are some regrettably low quality shots of a lustron (plus lustron garage) on my aunt-in-law’s street. Those are some really cool houses. I forget if Lustron designed the White Castle Buildings first and then the houses or the other way round.
http://flickr.com/photos/elephantsonbicycles/1473097899/in/set-72157600744676587/
Come to think of it Andrew, the White Castle near my childhood home DID look a lot like a Lustron. Thanks for the added information.
Hey Jeff,
We have 2 or 3 of those here in Lancaster. The Ohio Historical Society did a really great article on the company and the homes a couple of years ago in their publication.
There are a few in Whitehall and they’re spread around here and there throughout Columbus. I’ve showed them to potential buyers before, but mostly out of curiosity on their end I think. Sadly, the idea is cooler than the product. I love that house on Long but it always looks so sad and lonely and out of place. I pass it at least once a day.
I pass one of these every day in the corner of Waggoner and Main St. (Rt 40) in Reynoldsburg. My father-in-law turned me on to them and now is it is fun hobby to find them.