Establishing an historic landmark at 34-18 Mishawaka Ave

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The Oldham house at 3418 Mishawaka Avenue is a one story, square plan residence. The foundation is a cement slab. The walls are stamped sheet metal, painted a pale yellow. The roof is of polyvinyl tile. The chimney is clad in sheet metal. The north and south facades feature extended gable ends of grooved sheet metal. The gables have close verges and projecting eaves with sheet metal soffits. There is an inset, half width, front corner porch with a cement floor and a V- shaped steel support with undulating tubular ornament. The window openings are large and square, regularily spaced and fitted with tripartite window units. There are smaller single and double casement window units on the east side. The entry door is wood, fully glazed and inset at the porch. The house sits on a steeply banked lawn with front retaining stones and a flight of cement steps. [4] HISTORIC DEVELOPMENT The Lustron house at 3418 Mishawaka Avenue was assembled on this lot in 1949. The property, lot 191 in the Fordham addition was purchased by Clyde C. and Clara P. Oldham from Rose E. and Artemis D. Young on august 23, 1949 for the sum of $1050.00. On September 8, 1949 the Oldham's mortgaged the lot to H.N. Pell of Urbana, Illinois for the sum of $750.00 to have this Lustron house erected. The origins of manufactured Lustron homes can be traced to the World War II period, when Carl Strandlund, an engineer /inventor, devised a technology to produce prefabricated steel houses. At the end of the war Strandlund worked as vice - president of Chicago Vitreous Enamel Company, a firm that had recently moved into the production of porcelain enamel panels for use as veneer on store fronts. When Strandlund later attempted to convince Standard panels as part of an all steel gasoline station, the proposal. However,in the face of postwar material sh suggested that Strandlund produce houses instead. In Reconstruction Finance Corporation, which authorized in the production of factory built houses. Oil to use these enamel government banned his )rtages, the government 1946 he appealed to the government loans to help To support the government's commitment to the Lustron Homes project the R.F.C. approved a loan of $15.5 million in 1946, followed by additional loans of $10 million in 1948 and $7 million in 1949. In addition to financial support, Strandlund was also given a site to set up the manufacturing plant, at the former Curtiss - Wright fighter plane factory outside Columbus, Ohio. the factory occupied some 23 acres and had a capacity to produce four (4) houses per hour, almost one hundred (100) houses per day. Chicago Vitreous Enamel Company built a prototype Lustron Home in Hinsdale, Illinois in the first half of 1947 and then sold all rights to their procelain enameling process to Strandlund. As a result of congressional support, Strandlund received 59,000 tons of steel from the Department of Commerce for his housing project.