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Lustron House documents

 Collection
Collection number: ahc.MSS815f

Scope and Content

This collection contains correspondence, newspaper clippings, and documents pertaining to the William R. and Ruth Knight Lustron historical home, Jafra Incorporated of Georgia, and the Lustron Corporation. Materials include copies of fact sheets about the construction of the houses, aerial layouts, by-laws, franchise agreements, and planning guides.

Dates

  • 1949-2001, undated

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

Unpublished manuscripts are protected by copyright. All requests to publish, quote, or reproduce must be submitted through the Kenan Research Center.

Administrative/Biographical History

Carl Gunnar Strandlund (1899-1974), an engineer who held over 150 patents for farm implements, was born in Sundsvall, Sweden and raised in Moline, Illinois. In response to the housing shortage at the end of World War II, he developed the Lustron house, an all-steel, prefabricated, bungalow-style home. Chicago architects, Roy Burton Blass (1907-1981) and Morris H. Beckman (1911-2003) helped develop the prototypes. In 1946 the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC) loaned $12.5 million dollars to help finance the Lustron Corporation in Columbus, Ohio. As the business continued to grow, Lustron created a network of dealerships across the country in order to distribute the homes. The Atlanta metro area franchise dealer was William R. Knight (1898-1996), a local real estate agent and the founder and president of Jafra Incorporated of Georgia. Knight also purchased a home, one of only ten Lustron houses built in the Atlanta area. The William R. and Ruth Knight Lustron House is located at 1976 Northside Drive in the Buckhead area of Atlanta and was listed on March 18, 1996, on the National Register of Historic Places for Fulton County, Georgia. Due to overrunning costs and production problems, the RFC foreclosed on the Lustron Corporation in 1950.

Extent

3 folder(s)

Language

English

System of Arrangement

This collection is arranged alphabetically according to titles supplied by staff.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Gift, 2002

Description Control

This collection was processed in 2018.

Title
Lustron House documents
Author
Louanne Heintz
Date
September 2018
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Kenan Research Center at Atlanta History Center Repository

Contact:
130 West Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta GA 30305
404-814-4040