The United States entered a remarkable era of prosperity after World War II ended. Returning soldiers set their eyes on the suburbs, and the Lustron Corporation was established to meet their demand for housing. Nearly eighty years have passed since it was founded, but the company’s old homes maintain a fanatic following! I’ve written about Lustron homes in Muncie and Anderson, but a recent trip to Richmond revealed five in the Rose City. 

The first Lustron house I encountered in Richmond sits on Berwyn Lane in the Ravinia Park addition. With an intact enameled steel roof and visible 2×2 foot panels, the “Maize Yellow” home has hardly changed since it was built! According to the assessor, it was assembled during the Truman Administration in 1950¹.

Richmond’s second Lustron sits catty-cornered from the first. The building has been altered since it was built in 1949², but its bay window and floorplan give away its provenance. Lustron Corporation offered a garage and breezeway as part of an optional builder’s package, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the originals stood underneath the shingles and siding.

Richmond’s third Lustron is on Avon Lane, just a hop, skip, and jump away from the first two. As evidenced by its yellow trim and pairs of tiny bedroom windows, the “Surf Blue” home was one of the company’s first five-hundred homes³! Assembled by V.H. Jeering & Sons, it served as an early model home for the city. The house was open for tours and inspection the week of February 27, 1949⁴.

The fourth house sits in the Berry Hill addition on Richmond’s north side. Built in 1950, it was kind of a latecomer to the Lustron scene⁵. Like the second and third I visited, the “Dove Gray” home still features its original steel panels and roof. Although many have been removed over the years, I was happy to see Lustron’s distinctive squiggly trellis still intact. 

As far as I know, Richmond’s last Lustron home sits on 13th Street across from Clear Creek Park. A three-bedroom variant of the other four houses, Earlham Heights’ “Desert Tan” dwelling was built in 1949⁶. A sizable addition expanded the home to the west, but its steel panels and protruding window reveal its Lustron origin.

I’ve heard another Lustron house may stand in Berry Hill near the “Dove Gray” model I found, but I wasn’t in town long enough to take a deeper dive. I did learn of another nearby in Cambridge City, though, and I stopped to take a picture of it on my way home. The house sits on U.S. 40 just west of State Road 1. Another “Desert Tan” model, the home was built in 1950. It seems to be original despite the replacement of its trellis⁷.

Richmond and Cambridge City are awash with grand old homes, but few stand out like the six Lustrons I found. Even after seventy-five years, the houses still embody the futuristic aspirations of the Chicago Vitreous Enamel Product Company. Once World War II building restrictions were lifted⁸, the firm founded the Lustron Corporation to provide soldiers with suburban homes.

Led by inventor Carl Strandlund and backed by government funding, Lustron built modular homes of enameled steel from an old airplane factory in Columbus, Ohio. With a price tag that ranged from $7,000 to $9,000⁹, a prefabricated Lustron house promised substantial savings compared to traditional homes of similar size.

After partial assembly at the plant, the steel homes arrived by truck and were swiftly erected atop a concrete slab by a local team of builders. It was a tricky job: each Lustron house used more than 3,300 individual components¹⁰. Pieces occasionally went missing in transit!

In 1949, encountering a finished Lustron for the first time probably felt similar to stumbling across an alien ship. Every element, inside and out, was steel. Need to hang a painting? Use a magnet! Have to tidy up for guests? Dig out the hose and some carnauba wax! The company boasted that its homes resisted “weather, wear, and time¹¹.”

Lustron houses were available in four colors and four floorplans, the Westchester Deluxe, the Newport, and the Meadowbrook. All of Richmond’s appear to be Westchester Deluxe models, which were the most popular¹². They also featured seven closets and pocket doors, along with built-in metal bookcases, china cabinets, and vanities¹³. A bizarre washing-machine-and-dishwasher combo called the Thor Automagic was even part of the package! Ultimately, the appliance proved unpopular.

The number of Lustron homes in Wayne County is a testament to the concept’s promise, but the company’s journey came to an abrupt halt. Despite ample funding and widespread acclaim, production fell significantly short of its ambitious targets. Lustron declared bankruptcy in 1950 after only delivering about 2,500 homes, 5% of what it promised.

The Lustron Corporation’s downfall was influenced by escalating material costs¹⁴ and opposition from the conventional construction sector¹⁵. Nevertheless, about 1,500 of the homes it constructed still exist today! One even serves as the focal point of the Ohio History Center’s 1950s exhibit an hour and a half east of Richmond in Columbus.

I’ve only been to fifteen Lustrons in the area, but Richmond’s impressive slate bests what Muncie and Anderson have to offer. Nearly seventy-five years after they were built, I’m glad Richmond’s colorful Lustrons still stand in testament to the spirit of innovation and optimism that gripped the United States in the years following World War II.

Read more about the Lustron exhibit at the Ohio History Center here. See a variety of Lustron houses in the Indianapolis suburb of Broad Ripple here.

Sources Cited
1 Wayne County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2024). Parcel ID: 029-17950-00. Wayne County, Indiana Assessor. map, Richmond, IN.
2 Wayne County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2024). Parcel ID: 029-35025-00. Wayne County, Indiana Assessor. map, Richmond, IN.
3 About (n.d.). The Lustron Locator. Web. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
4 Now we can take your order (1949, February 25). The Richmond Palladium-Item. p. 16.
5 Wayne County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2024). Parcel ID: 029-40004-00. Wayne County, Indiana Assessor. map, Richmond, IN.
6 Wayne County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2024). Parcel ID: 029-25313-00. Wayne County, Indiana Assessor. map, Richmond, IN.
7 Wayne County Office of Information & GIS Services. (2024). Parcel ID: 019-01526-00. Wayne County, Indiana Assessor. map, Richmond, IN.
8 HUD’s Historical Timeline 1930-2020 (n.d.).Office of Policy Development and Research. The United States Department
9 Potter, B. (2021, March 31). The Lustrous Home. Construction Physics. Web. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
10 Davis, R. (1993, March 7). Some Lustrous ‘dream homes’ remain intact. The Muncie Star. p. 3.
11 “Compact, Beautiful Lustron Homes: Newport Two-Bedroom and Three-Bedroom Sizes.” Lustron Corporation [Columbus]. Brochure. 
12 Halliwell, A. (2018, November 8). The Luster of Lustron. The Rochester Post- Bulletin. Web. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
13 Heuchert, E. (n.d.). Lustron Homes. Minneapolis Historical [Minneapolis]. Web. Retrieved March 13, 2024. 
14 Martinez Euklidiadas, M. (2023, April 4). Lustron, The Failed Initiative To Create Prefabricated Homes Made Entirely From Steel. Tomorrow City. Web. Retrieved March 14, 2024. 
15 Reiss, R. (1978, July 23). When Lustron Lost its Luster. The Columbus Dispatch. 
16 (See footnote 3).