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| The Lustron Project A joint project of Historic Albany Foundation, The Preservation League of New York State and the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation |
Hello Lustron Project Volunteers:
I hope the warmer weather has given you a chance to get out for a drive and locate some of the Lustron homes in your area. If at all possible, I would love to receive completed survey forms by the middle of April, so that we can evaluate them and determine which ones to pursue national register nominations. If this schedule won’t work for you, simply let me know and we can work something out.
As surveys begin to come in, I’ve noted a slight issue – the transfers of photos. In an attempt to keep the resolution high, it is often difficult to email them. Especially, if there are several shots. There are now a few choices for dealing with them.1)
You can save them onto a CD – as
high resolution
.jpegs – and send them via snail mail to my address (listed on survey
form).
2) Or you can upload them to an internet photo service. I have created both a Lustron Yahoo account and a Lustron snapfish account. This will allow everyone to upload their images from their own desk to either site and I can have any digital images printed efficiently and inexpensively.
Yahoo photos: http://target.new.photos.yahoo.com/In
any
case, make sure all
photos are named according to the format noted in the survey
form. <city#street.jpeg>
Give it a shot and let me
know if you run into any problems.
And thank you all
again
for your assistance in this project. Your help is so very much
appreciated. Hope you are having fun while doing it.
Best regards,
Kim Alvarez
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In
November of 2006, the Preservation League of New York State awarded
Historic Albany Foundation, a preservation advocacy organization in the Capital Region, a grant to locate, research, document and nominate the Lustron Houses throughout the state that are worthy of recognition and preservation to the State and National Register of Historic Places. Lustron houses all across New York State have “come of age” reaching the 50-year-old mark making them eligible to be considered for listing as landmark buildings. |
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The New York State
Lustron
Project
CALL
FOR
VOLUNTEERS
In
November
of 2006, the Preservation League
of New York State awarded Historic Albany Foundation, a preservation
advocacy
organization in Albany, a grant to locate, research, document and
nominate the
Lustron Houses throughout the state that are worthy of recognition and
preservation to the State and National Register of Historic Places
using a
thematic format known as a “multiple property document.” Lustron
houses
across New York State have “come of age” by reaching the 50-year-old
mark thus
making them eligible for listing on the Registers. The “Lustron House” was the brainchild ofCarl Strandlund, an Ohio manufacturer of porcelain-coated steel panels, who developed these pre-fabricated, all-steel homes to ease the housing shortage for GIs returning from service after World War II. Only 2,492 houses were built in the United States between March 1948 and February 1950, when the company defaulted on its government loans. Despite the failure of the Lustron Company, these unique and innovative houses have endured as virtually maintenance-free, living up to their promise as setting a “New Standard for Living.” Of the 2,492 Lustron houses built in the U.S., at least 103 houses are known to have been shipped to and erected in New York State by 1950. Of these, almost half were built in the Capital Region suggesting that the largest NY dealer was based near Albany. It is for this reason that Historic Albany Foundation has taken the lead in this project. There are Lustron houses located in five distinct zones across the state. They are concentrated in the eastern or Capital Region; in Western NY; in the Southern Tier; in Central NY; and in the Lower Hudson/Downstate region. We are looking for volunteers outside of the Capital Region to help us locate, document, research and nominate the Lustrons in the other four zones. These efforts would include completing a “windshield survey” on a standard Survey form and providing digital photographs. If the building is determined to be intact and worthy of inclusion in the thematic nomination we will solicit volunteer help to research and produce a National Register Nomination form. To volunteer, or for more information, please contact Project Consultant and Coordinator, Kimberly Konrad Alvarez at 518-361-3909 or kkalvarez@landmarkconsulting.net or Historic Albany Foundation at 518- 465-0876 ext. 12 or www.historic-albany.org/lustron |
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