• Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

    Indiana Dunes

    National Lakeshore Indiana

Armco-Ferro House

photo of a white cube shaped house sitting on a hill with stairs ledding up to it

Armco-Ferro House, Beverly Shores, taken in 1994 by Jack Boucher, Photographer, Historic American Buildings Survey, National Park Service. House designed by Cleveland architect Robert Smith Jr.

The Armco-Ferro House is the only remaining house from the fair that met the Fair Committee's design criteria; a house that could be mass-produced and was affordable for the average American family. This seemingly frameless house boasts a revolutionary construction system: corrugated steel panels that are bolted together. This system resembles a typical cardboard box; it could be placed on its bottom, side, or top without damaging the structure. 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. Several Lustron houses can still be seen in Beverly Shores.
 
black & white photo of kichen with stove, water cooler, black and white checked tile floor and cabinets.

Armco-Ferro House kitchen, taken in 1994 by Jack Boucher, Photographer, Historic American Buildings Survey, National Park Service.

Did You Know?

A view looking across water of a large sand dune mostly bare with some grass

At 126 feet high and moving inward at an average rate of four feet per year, Mt. Baldy is the largest moving dune within Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.