I've written about Gunnison Homes before in this blog. See:
http://cresourcesinc.blogspot.com/2010/07/former-gunnison-factory-new-albany.html. Running across a newspaper article while I was doing research gives me an excuse to post up a bit more information.
Gunnison Magic Homes was the first really successful pre-fab housing firm in the United States. By 1940, this
Indianapolis Star article claims that it was the "nation's largest home builder." In the pre-World War II era that may have been true. It's safe to say that the company sold thousands of homes over the course of its history.
From his factory, which still stands in New Albany, Indiana, Foster Gunnison produced pre-fab homes built with insulated plywood panels in an assembly-line system.
Forbes called him the "Henry Ford of housing." Raw materials arrived at the front door, the walls, ceiling and floors were factory finished, doors hung and "windows installed, washed and screened" as the panels moved along the conveyor belts and out the rear door onto trucks headed all across the nation.
This September 29, 1940, article introduced a new line of Gunnison Homes, the Miracle Home. Demonstration homes were already built by this time in Indianapolis, South Bend and Jeffersonville, Indiana. Unlike the Deluxe Home, which came in nine standard sizes ranging from four to seven rooms and retailing from $4,000 to $8,500, these new Miracle Homes were all four rooms. They could be installed with or without a basement and were sold on installment plans, approved for FHA loans, for $360 down and $25.60 monthly payments, including insurance and property taxes.
Indianapolis builder, Robert L. Mason was the local rep for the Miracle Homes. It's hard to know how many of these little Miracles were built in the city, but the demonstration home shown in the picture at the bottom of the article and located in the 3500 block of North Keystone Avenue, still stands as you can see in this google maps pic. I wonder if its owners know the history of their house?
There were, of course, a variety of such projects across the U.S. Another notable one was Panorama City in Southern California's San Fernando Valley. This was a project of Henry J. Kaiser's construction company, utilizing the prefab techniques that he had pioneered in WWII shipyards across the Western seaboard. Kaiser's two-bedroom, single-family homes sold for as little as $9,100. Gunnison Homes seem cheaper. Thanks for your post!
ReplyDeleteYes, there were a lot of pre-fab attempts in the pre- and post-WWII years. Including the highly successful National Homes, which was started by 3 Gunnison Homes alums, according to Jim Morrow, of Indiana's Partners in Preservation,a National Homes guru.
ReplyDeleteThis constantly amazes me just how blog owners such as your self can find the time as well as the dedication to keep on crafting superb blog posts. Your website is good and one of my personal must read weblogs. I just had to thank you.
ReplyDeletepre fab homes
Adiva Graphics. I've been a bit lazy as of late on my blog, but thanks for that positive reinforcement!
ReplyDeleteJust found this blog after reading an article in the Louisville Courier-Journal. I find the design drawing very interesting as it pertains to the "needs" of todays home-buyers. There's more lumber in a roof today than in 2 or 3 of the "miracle homes." I want to add that my fiances' great grandfather sold the land to Foster Gunnison for the original factory in New Albany.
ReplyDeleteMy parents owned a Gunnerson home in OH. I inherited the home and have found there are issues with mildew/mold. The original owners had the engineers from the company look at the problem. Do you know if any other owners had problems with the homes being too "airtight"? I am wondering what solutions there may be for solving this issue.
ReplyDeletewe purchased a gunnison home about 1 1/2 years ago thinking we could remodel it. the question is regarding whether or not u can drywall over the existing wood walls. what happens with the movement of the wood with weather, etc.?
ReplyDeletePlease help us. All the dark wood is killing us!
I live in McDonald, Ohio and we have hundreds of these homes in our one square mile village. To the best of my knowledge we have only lost three of them...two to fire, one to termites. I remember the glass door knobs on all the doors. But what I remember most was that it was way to small for two parents and four children with one bathroom, no air cond. or ceiling fans. The single pane window with metal frames would form frost on the inside of the sills then drip down the walls. The construction wasn't even two by four framing which amazes me how they have stood the test of time.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a lot of expertise to answer a question about drywalling over the plywood walls but I would think it would be possible. Maybe one of my other readers can answer this with an example of what they've done.
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