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Past Events

Local History Meetup: The Lustron House

The Historical Society of Rockland County Invites You to Join us for a

Local History Meetup at
The Lustron House

When: Saturday, July 8, 12-2 PM
Where: The Lustron House, 421 Durie Avenue, Closter, NJ
Admission: $FREE (donations are greatly appreciated)

This is a meetup announcement for history enthusiasts. All are welcome! 

Come meet up with other history/historical architecture lovers to tour the Lustron House in nearby Closter, New Jersey. Jennifer Rothschild, the HSRC's director of programming, will greet you at the house, which is set up as a mid-century-styled house museum. The tour is free of charge.

The Lustron House was an innovative solution to the housing shortage that followed World War II, when returning GIs needed homes that were affordable for their families. The engineer Carl Strandlund came up with a solution that used steel that had been saved for the war effort. He imagined that the porcelain-enameled steel panels previously used for gas stations and White Castle hamburger restaurants could be put to use to create modest housing. Thus, the Lustron House was born.

Lustrons are ranch-style homes built entirely of steel on concrete slabs. Closter's Lustron House is significant in architecture and engineering as an example of post-World War II housing featuring prefabrication that used assembly-line production similar to that in automobile manufacturing. The Lustron Corporation shipped its houses out of a factory in Columbus, Ohio, from 1948 to 1950. About 2,500 were manufactured, and only 1,500 remain.

Street parking is available on Durie Avenue and Legion Place. As this is a meetup, all participants must provide their own transportation.

Fun fact: There is one Lustron house here in Rockland County. It is located on Main Street, Stony Point, and is “surf blue” in color.

For more information about the Lustron House, visit www.lustronhouse.com.

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The Historical Society of Rockland County is a nonprofit educational institution and principal repository for original documents and artifacts relating to Rockland County. Its headquarters are a four-acre site featuring a history museum and the 1832 Jacob Blauvelt House in New City, New York.

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