Spatial Organizations
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The open lawn around the house has grown in over the years since it was placed on the rise overlooking Lake Michigan. The landscape does not match that of the community at the World's Fair site. This seemingly frameless house boasts a revolutionary construction system: corrugated steel panels that are bolted together. This system resembles a typical cardboard box. The corrugated panels are clad with porcelain-enameled steel panels produced by the Ferro Enamel Corporation. This construction system later provided the inspiration for the post World War II prefabricated housing developed by the Lustron Corporation. .Internal
Armco-Ferro House is based on a traditional four-square. There are four rooms on the first floor and four rooms on the second. The four-square allows for cross ventilation in all weather and all seasons. The original garage was open for the 1933 fair season and enclosed for the 1934 fair season, becoming a study. A porch was added the second year The living room of the Armco-Ferro House as it was decorated for the 1934 fair season. The furnishings for this season were very traditional – the spaces were not cluttered with too many pieces as in 1933.A Century of Progress Homes and Furnishings, Dorothy Raley, Editor, 1934, page 19. Appendix D, Exhibit H. The dining room of the Armco-Ferro House as it was decorated for the 1934 fair season. The furnishings were very traditional, as was the use of a wood wainscot detail. Note however that the lighting did not change from that used in 1933. The kitchen of the Armco-Ferro House as it was decorated for the 1934 fair season; looking toward the laundry room. The only changes that can be discerned from the 1933 season are the use of a Masonite "tile" wainscot, the "picture frame" pattern in the linoleum, and the cabinet/appliance layout. . The dining room of the Armco-Ferro House as it was originally decorated for the 1933 fair season. The decorators thought "outside the box" when designing this room. Rather than using it solely as the dining space they created two use areas. The dining table was set on an outside wall under a window, and in the opposite corner they placed a card table for recreational purposes.pending verification CJL The boy's room of the Armco-Ferro House as it was originally decorated for the 1933 fair season. The furnishings for this season were very modern with rectilinear lines and details. Two unusual pieces of furniture for the time period included the hanging bunk bed, and the bookcase, which doubled as the stair for the bed. The house is aRestoration efforts
Restoration efforts on the Armco-Ferro House were started in 1997, with the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and theSee also
* Indiana Dunes National Park *Bibliography
*Maria F. Ali, The Century of Progress Documentation Project (Washington, D.C.: Historic American Buildings Survey, Department of the Interior, 1994), HABS No. IN-239. Appendix A. *Maria F. Ali, Armco-Ferro-Mayflower House Documentation Project (Washington, D.C.: Historic American Buildings Survey, Department of the Interior, 1994), HABS No. IN-244. Appendix B. *National Register Nomination, National Register of Historic Places (National Park Service, Department of the Interior, October 1985), Appendix C. *Cultural Resource files, Resource Management Division, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Janice Slupski, 17 West Service Avenue: An Illustration of Dunes Area Recreational Development, (Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Department of the Interior, 1997). *Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service, and Purdue University, Agricultural Experiment Station, Porter County Soil Survey, n.d. *A Century of Progress Homes and Furnishings, Dorothy Raley, Editor, 1934. *The Official Pictures of A Century of Progress Exposition Chicago, 1933. *Joseph C. Folsom, "How to Enjoy This Week at the Fair Week Ending Sept. 30", Official World's Fair Weekly, 1933. * "Frameless Steel House At A Century of Progress", 1933. * "The Metal Home", 1933. An unnamed brochure produced by the Insulated Steel Construction Company, 1933. * "Steel House Will Be Built Here; Work Started Near Poasttown", The Middletown, Ohio, News Journal, July 30, 1933. * "To Open Frameless Steel House", The Dayton Daily News, 1933.References
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