Gimme Shelter 2007

Cover Story Image

Toledo City Paper's annual guide to the best in home and garden style

published April 11th 2007

Spring may be taking its sweet time getting to Toledo this year, but that’s why it’s a perfect time to brighten up and renew the place you call home (or even your workspace). Once again, TCP is here to help — whether it’s with inspiration from other cool local spaces, or advice on redecorating with what you have, or with the fun history of a hidden architectural gem in Toledo. Welcome home to 2007’s Gimme Shelter!

Steeling Home

After half a century, all-metal Lustron houses still turn heads in Toledo

by Amanda Wolfe

Touted as efficient, durable and maintenance-free (not to mention able to be assembled in a matter of hours), the Lustron house became an unarguably “modern” residence for postwar home buyers.

What’s more, it mostly lived up to its dramatic claims. More than half a century after the Lustron Corporation’s brief existence, during which roughly 2,500 of its namesake homes were constructed, these all-metal structures have gained a cult-like status for both their forward-thinking design and their incredible hardiness.

Toledo was particularly open to the idea of a home composed, both inside and out, of porcelain-enameled steel panels. According to company records, at least 32 were ordered and shipped to the city between 1948 and 1950, a number which likely puts Toledo in the top five communities in the world for Lustron construction, according to Tom Fetters, author of “The Lustron Home: The History of a Postwar Prefabricated Housing Experiment.” At least 26 of Toledo’s Lustrons still exist, and many have remained nearly unaltered over their 50-plus year lifespans.

So, why do so few people still acknowledge the Lustron Home, and its place in 20th century architectural history?

The rise and fall of a good idea

The Lustron story, in a historical sense, is a short but dramatic one. What began with founder Carl Strandlund’s initial vision of low-cost, easy-to-assemble housing aimed particularly at returning veterans, ultimately became a complicated web of financial chaos, union battles and government intervention. Strandlund’s original application for porcelain-enameled steel panels was for gas stations. But he also drew up some sketches for prefabricated housing, which ended up generating interest from government officials responsible for doling out federal loan money. With a $52 million budget, and a lease for an unused aircraft plant in Columbus, Ohio, Strandlund set out to reach his goal: 400 homes per day built over the course of nine months.

While the Lustron Corporation had financial difficulties almost immediately — capital had been nearly impossible to raise — the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (an independent agency of the U.S. government) provided the initial $15.5 million dollars needed for the company to begin production in 1947. Unfortunately, Lustron’s troubles began almost immediately thereafter. The original asking price of $7,000 proved to be too little to cover production, and costs were raised to as much as $10,000 in some areas of the country. What’s more, Lustron had to obtain millions in additional loans from the RFC, leaving the company with a nearly $40 million debt to the government.

Adding to the trouble, the public, while generally very receptive to Lustron Homes, failed to put their money where their mouths were; orders for the homes were, at best, about 75-80% short of Strandlund’s original promise of 400 homes per day. The Lustron Corporation was not only losing money at a rapid rate, but a congressional investigation also revealed unfiled financial statements, payoffs to high-ranking officials, and general mismanagement. And although the house itself was union made at the factory, local builders’ and contractors’ unions were not pleased with what a prefabricated house could do to their business — especially one which could be, and sometimes was, assembled by the layman.

The company was never able to sell stock to repay the RFC, and in February 1950, the RFC foreclosed on the Lustron Corporation. Production ceased a mere two years after it began ... the only remaining legacy of the company being the sturdy little “homes of the future” that still dot much of the eastern half of the United States.

“The house America has been waiting for”

Financial troubles aside, the Lustron Corporation had little trouble generating public excitement for the Lustron Home once the homes became available. While only one floorplan was offered at first — a two bedroom, one bath “Westchester” model — homeowners could customize them with their choice of color combinations and interior fixtures. Colors for the exterior bore names like “surf blue,” “dove gray,” “maize yellow” and “desert tan,” then-popular hues which today add to the homes’ retro appeal. One aspect of the Lustron’s design that potential home-owners found most appealing was its efficient use of limited space. With plenty of built-ins (including a dressing table and cabinets in the master bedroom, a china cabinet in the dining room with a pass-through to the kitchen, a wall bookcase in the living room and a bathroom cabinet), plus sliding pocket doors and roomy closets, all of the floor space in the Lustron was usable living space. Even better, the house was low-maintenance; the steel construction meant that common home problems such as termites were a non-issue, the enameled surfaces were easy to clean, and the home’s radiant oil-heating system, contained in the ceiling panels, eliminated the need for vents — all but eliminating dust as well.

Almost overnight, the Lustron Home became a piece of postwar iconic imagery; magazines were filled with advertisements for “The house America has been waiting for,” and the company began introducing new models (including a three-bedroom floorplan and a smaller “Newport” design, along with breezeway and garage options). Most of the ads and brochures appealed to the optimism of late-1940s consumers, featuring smiling housewives enjoying their freedom from the heavy burdens of cleaning and maintaining a home. One now-famous image depicts a well-dressed woman apparently watering her house — an image actually meant to illustrate the fact that the Lustron exterior could be simply hosed down to keep it clean.

While the Lustron may not have been quite as self-maintaining as the early advertising touted, most current owners agree that there is remarkably little effort required for upkeep.

Living in, and loving, a Lustron

Erika Buri’s insurance company did a double take upon seeing one particular piece of data: that her roof was more than 50 years old. They called her, thinking it was possibly a mistake, but she confirmed it. What’s more, the original metal roof has yet to require any maintenance. According to Buri, the only issue she’s had with it is that a previous owner’s paint job has begun to peel.

Buri’s home, which she shares with fiancée Todd Crail, retains most of its original features; the metal kitchen cabinets, the dressing table, the original finish on both the exterior and on the kitchen and bathroom’s interior. Somewhere along the line, an owner added an extra room to the house. The room is hidden in the back, however, leaving the home’s street view identical to when the home was built in the late 1940s.

Although her mother had a fascination with Lustrons, and her grandparents had nearly bought one, Buri had never paid much attention to them herself — even though she’d grown up near the home she lives in today. “I lived right around here, played right around here, and I never noticed it,” she says. And while she shares many Lustron owners’ interest in and appreciation for the history of her home, she says the reactions of those unfamiliar with Lustrons are what make the home particularly fun to live in.

“My friends say things like, ‘You live in a POW shack, don’t you?’” Buri laughs. “Or they call it my ‘spaceship.’ One of them told me to make sure I mention that it repels aliens.”

Crail adds, “The first part of the experience for most people is when they knock on the door and think, ‘Wow, it really is all metal.’ Then they come inside, and again it’s ‘Wow, it really is all metal.’ I tell them, yes, that’s what I meant by ‘it’s all metal.’”

What would make a person want to live in an all-metal house? According to Fetters, “The two things that stand out for the modern day owner are the lack of maintenance problems ... and [the fact that they] have no industrial chemicals in the makeup of the house, and are perfect for folks with severe allergy problems from industrial glues or other materials.” While they have had no major maintenance issues, Crail has had some problems with allergies; but Buri believes that may be attributable to “the fact that the water heater is 30 years old.”

Stephen Leszkai, who purchased his Lustron near Maumee this February, is still getting to know the home. His Lustron has been more extensively updated than Buri’s, and is missing a few of the original details, such as the dressing table and cabinetry in the master bedroom. Furthermore, the exterior and interior have both been completely repainted, a common occurrence in Lustron homes — despite the fact that the surfaces were never meant to be painted, and paint rarely adheres for long. Leszkai is trying to strip the paint from the interior, but has found it to be a taxing process. “I also would have liked to have seen the exterior before it was painted, to see whether the finish was still in good shape or not,” he adds.

One interesting detail which remains in Leszkai’s home is a handwritten note, likely from the manufacturer, in a closet: “House #113, Toledo, OH.” The low number suggests that this was one of the earlier Lustrons to be built in the U.S. Leszkai says that the home’s combination of history, novelty and practicality was what sold him, even though he already liked the location and the style. “Besides some of the built-ins and things that drew me to it to begin with, it functions just like any other house,” he says.

Buri and Leszkai share one thing in common with many young Lustron owners: an appreciation for the home’s mid-century provenance. “When I first bought the house, most of the inside was painted dark brown,” says Buri. She repainted much of the interior in a 1950s pale peach and aqua color scheme, giving it what she refers to as a “sort of beach house feel.” Buri also gives a few nods to the fun, kitschy side of the Lustron, in details such as something many all-steel home owners maintain: an extensive magnet collection.

Leszkai, on the other hand, took a different retro approach to his decor. He has furnished his Lustron with high-end Danish modern pieces, many designed by 1950s icons like Charles and Ray Eames and Robsjohn-Gibbings. As a great fan of the mid-century modern style, Leszkai found the Lustron to be the perfect backdrop for his wide array of vintage furnishings.

Many local Lustron owners have a deep dedication to preservation of these homes, but unlike other communities, Toledo has no organized group dedicated to the task. In some areas, such as Quantico Air Force Base in Virginia — previously the largest community of Lustrons in the U.S. — efforts to rescue the homes from demolition became a nationwide cause. The homes were to be dismantled in favor of new housing for veterans, and were being offered for free to anyone willing to disassemble and move them. Unfortunately, the catch was the requirement of a $15,000 deposit ... leaving many of the Lustrons destined for the scrap heap. However, for those who want to own an unusual piece of postwar architectural history but want to avoid disassembling and moving one, as of press time, at least two Lustrons in Toledo are for sale.

And while the Lustron’s influence upon modern prefab housing is undeniable, “no one has replicated the assembly line production, nor the porcelain exterior and interior finish that prevented rusting and provided a lifetime protective coating,” says Fetters. “So far, the current pre-fabs use shortcuts and materials that may promote an allergic reaction.” With its efficiency, lack of maintenance and low-allergen construction, perhaps the Lustron finally is the home America has been waiting for.

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

Some of the Lustron’s famous quirks:

Hot or not? The Lustron radiant-heat debacle

An early advertisement singing the praises of the radiant-heat ceiling system began with the sentence, “Imagine waking up each morning and stepping out of bed onto a nice, toasty-warm floor.” But while the homes themselves are well-insulated and relatively airtight, most owners say the heating system tends to only heat the upper half of a room ... leaving the floors far from toasty warm.

Unfortunately, says Tom Fetters, author of “The Lustron Home,” many people respond to this by attempting to update the furnace ... a bad idea. “You will find a few people with furnace problems as they replace the old, original furnace with new efficient machines,” Fetters says. “However, the installers are ignorant of how radiant heat functions and hold the heat delivery to low levels, which would be fine in a conventional hot air delivery system. The Lustrons require a higher heat to heat the ceiling panels. Installers moan that the effective life of the furnace will be reduced with the hight heat, but this is probably three months shorter life in a 25 year expected furnace life. Properly adjusted, the house heats just fine and at low cost besides.”

Conclusion: find an experienced repairman, and maintain, don’t replace.

Want to know more? Try...

Hotel no more

Artists breathe new life into a Toledo landmark

by Ryan A. Bunch

As the City of Toledo and The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo look to champion their “Live, Work, Create Toledo” program, the recently renovated Secor Studios offers a prime example of possibilities for downtown’s many defunct buildings. The historic hotel was recently renovated by Diva Restaurant owner Jim Zaleski, transforming the 6th and 7th floors of the building into unique art studios. Blending the rough, abandoned warehouse feel of the building with a modern, New York City loft aesthetic, the Secor Studios are a perfect representation of the Midwest’s gritty industrialism yearning to clean and class itself up.

Complete with a brick-clashes-with-elegance gallery on the sixth floor and plenty of interesting nooks and crannies throughout, the building — also home to the Toledo Opera — will eventually feature a revamped lobby that will serve as a larger gallery. The April 20 “Fifth Bi-Annual Artist Meet and Greet” will take place in a portion of that space.

Workplaces that Wow

A look at some of the area’s cool, eclectic office spaces

Bowling Green State University
Popular Culture Department
Inside a historic Montgomery Ward and Co. house on Wooster St. in Bowling Green, this gem of academic office space is where scholars research TV shows, comic books, heavy metal and all things pop. Kitschy relics, collectibles and piles of books by the likes of Baudrillard and Foucault abound.

Lesniewicz Associates
Featured as part of our May 2006 cover story on graphic design legend Terry Lesniewicz, this office packs a heavy amount of wow factor. Clean, space-age design both reflects and inspires the creativity of the studio’s design professionals.

Root Learning
Jim Haudan’s Root Learning teaches companies how to get their message to clients and employees in new, creative, effective ways (“Faces of progress,” TCP March 7, 2007). And when you’re breaking new ground, why do it in a cubicle farm?

B Creative
B Creative is a studio specializing in both graphic and web design. Specialists in creating an “identity” for their clients, they have also defined their own with their hip and colorful office decor.

Cool finds

It’s all about ambience

by Jan M. Thomas, room stylist & art consultant

What are the elements of a well-designed living space that give it more appeal? Ask ten designers the same question and you may get ten different answers. Furniture style and placement, and backgrounds of paint and carpet, have a lot to do with the look of a room. No matter what your style, the accessories that you decorate with ultimitely determine the personality, express who you are and create the ambience. If you look at a room as you would a little black dress — you can alter the look by changing the jewelry, shoes and belt — imagine taking your existing furniture and giving it a whole new look by rethinking what you’ve pairred with it to give it new life.

Here are a few ideas to add some eclectic elements to your room for a big difference and more pizzazz:

About the designer: Jan M. Thomas started her two-decade career in design at Contemporary Interiors and was a co-founder of Design Concepts in 1989. She currently freelances as a designer and represents area artists. Besides full-service design, Thomas offers “the economical solution of hourly consultations to help people transform their rooms by re-working what they already have, making improvements by rearranging [existing] furniture, changing backgrounds and adding little touches that make a big difference.” Her services range from simple advice and guidance to providing the necessary items that make a room complete. Thomas also stages homes — decorating a house on the market to add visual appeal to potential buyers.

“Oftentimes, people have many of the right ingredients; it’s just not put together right,” says Thomas. “I just look at the room from a design standpoint and tweak it to look more balanced and pleasing. A room with an eclectic mix makes for a more interesting and relaxed style — but it has to be done right to look like it makes sense. My purpose is to add the element of design.”

If you have a room that needs an expert’s touch, but don’t have the budget or the desire to refurnish, contact Jan M. Thomas at 419-270-6859 or email jtbmod@aol.com.

Garden state

Hoen’s grows stylish (and delicious) fare for spring and summer

by Rick Claypool

Plant fanatics, we know you’re out there, and we feel for you. All winter long, your green thumb has been twitching and you’ve been jonesin’ to grow. The dark days of staving off your urge to nurture your leafy friends, of watching “The Secret Garden,” “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” just to get through another day, are nearly over. Sure, one day it’s 70 degrees, and the next day it’s 30; the topsy-turvy weather of springtime in Toledo isn’t exactly encouraging. Thankfully, Hoen’s Greenhouse and Garden Center is here for you.

Owner and gardener Theresa Hoen reminds growers, “May 15 is Toledo’s frost date — the last day of spring we can expect to see frost.” You don’t want to go planting tomatoes or hibiscus before this. Thankfully, Hoen says her greenouse offers a number of cold-tolerant plants that will hold up against the weather and light up your patio or garden with bright springtime colors.

Proven Winners’ argyranthemum daisy varieties burst with yellows, pinks and whites. Mix them with fragrant, pastel-colored nemesia and cold-tolerant pansies. For bold contrasts, accent your garden with the colorful leaves of African and Asian coleus. With evocative names like “fishnet stockings,” “twist and twirl,” “dark star” and “zen moment,” Hoen’s wide coleus selection promises to add zest to both your outdoor decor and your conversations.

For gardeners seeking a hardy plant that’s truly out-of-this-world, Hoen recommends the escargot begonia. With deep spirals and bands of silver, green and red, this trippy little number resembles a living fractal design.

Now, good things come to those who wait (until after the frost date). How good? How about “zebra tomato” good. “It’s a green, striped tomato that tastes like kiwi fruit,” Hoen explains, though she’s also quick to point out the numerous “ordinary” tomatoes. For those who like it hot, the pepper selection includes habanero and Thai chiles — just make sure to wear gloves to protect your skin from the spicy oils when you pick them.

Don’t feel like you need to choose between decorative plants and edible plants. Get this: Hoen’s has edible vines like the painted lady, the scarlet runner bean and climbing spinach to complement both your trellis and your salad dish. If more decorations were edible, the world might be a better place.

Then again, all gardening makes the world a better place. Who doesn’t love food and oxygen, not to mention the show of colors? So go ahead — let your green (thumb) flag fly. 1710 Perrysburg Holland Rd., Holland. (419) 865-9276.

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