Gunnison Magic Homes was one of the first really successful system
housing firms in the United
States. By 1940, it was the “nation’s
largest home builder.” In the pre-World War II era that may have
been true. It’s safe to say that the company sold thousands of homes over the
course of its history.
The home’s designer, Foster Gunnison, was a lighting
designer who was involved in the construction of New York
City’s Radio City Music Hall
and the Empire State Building.
In 1936, he opened Gunnison Housing Corp. in New Albany for its centralized location. Focusing on affordability, Gunnison
standardized parts to use assembly line manufacturing methods. It was said a
complete home came off the conveyors every 25 minutes.
From his factory, which still stands in New Albany, Indiana,
Foster Gunnison produced pre-fab homes built with insulated plywood panels in
an assembly-line system. Forbes called him the “Henry Ford of
housing.” Raw materials arrived at the front door, the walls,
ceiling and floors were factory finished, doors hung and “windows
installed, washed and screened” as the panels moved along the conveyor
belts and out the rear door onto trucks headed all across the nation.
Gunnison engineers designed
an interchangeable wall panel that would fit 12 different house models by 1937.
Gunnison could undersell a conventionally
constructed house by almost 25%. A 1954 sales brochure states the homes sold
for $8750 to $13,000, depending on options and floorplans, which could include
breezeways and attached garages.
Take a look around any neighborhood built in the 1940s or
1950s and odds are good you’ll see at least a few houses built from a Gunnison kit.
Prefabricated houses — cheaper to build and just as durable
as their traditionally site built counterparts — popped up across the country,
but they had their genesis in New
Albany, Indiana.
In April 1944, U.S. Steel acquired 70 percent interest in
the company, and Gunnison stayed on as general
manager. In 1946, the New Albany
factory was expanded and updated. By 1950, it was producing 14 basic home
designs.
When Gunnison retired in
1953, U.S. Steel bought out his remaining interest and changed the name to
United States Steel Homes. The plant, which still stands, closed in 1974.
Gunnison homes were a hit
because they were moderately priced, well-built and, thanks to a variety of
add-on features, could be custom-made to accommodate families of different
sizes and means. Gunnison Homes were marketed
through franchised dealers across the country and by 1950 came in 11 sizes,
from a boxy 24-by-24-foot model with kitchen, living-dining room, two bedrooms,
bath and utility room to a spacious four-bedroom, 2 1/2-bath model. All had
built-in bedroom closets and linen closets. Traditional styles — Cape Cod, colonial and ranch — were chosen to boost
consumer confidence in the novel prefab building method.
Gunnison employed about 300 people and claimed
to have sold 4500 homes in 38 states by 1941. Gunnison was written about in
Popular Science and national architecture and engineering magazines, but they
aren’t very well-known today outside of New
Albany.
Looking at the floor plans from some of the modular home
factories today, you have to ask yourself if we’ve really come very far since Foster
Gunnison started building homes?
