The tumultuous history of America's pioneering all-metal house, which neighbors wanted to tear down and architects fought to save

By: Dan Latu

26 January 2025 at 03:26

A restored Aluminaire House sits comfortably on grassy path of cleared forest. — Schwarting's architecture students received credit for helping bring the Aluminaire House back to life.
Jon Michael Schwarting and Frances Campani

The Aluminaire House was designed in 1931 as a vision for affordable housing in the US.
Since then, it has been moved from NYC to the suburbs, then abandoned, restored, and moved back into the city.
In 2017, it was shipped to Palm Springs, where it has been rebuilt again and is open to visitors.

The typical American will move 11 times in their life, the US Census Bureau says, but there is no similar estimate for the typical American house.

A leading candidate for most-moved home might be the Aluminaire House, which was designed in the 1930s as a vision of affordable housing in the Depression-era US.

Its boxy design, made up of interchangeable aluminum and steel parts, foreshadowed the rise of pre-fabricated homes and ADUs, which have been tapped in the present day to solve the country's modern housing affordability crisis.

The 1,200-square-foot cube was built on six columns and contains five separate rooms that can be arranged as different living spaces.

Over the past century, the Aluminaire House has been taken apart, rebuilt, restored, and moved multiple times as architecture enthusiasts preserve its place in American history.

"The Aluminaire House," a book published in November by Jon Michael Schwarting and Frances Campani, details the long, winding journey of the iconic structure through a New York City showroom, a grassy hill in Huntington, New York, a playground in Sunnyside, Queens, the inside of a tractor-trailer, and, finally, a permanent site in Palm Springs, California.

Take a look at the house's cross-country odyssey:

Designed in 1931 by architects A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey, the Aluminaire House was imagined as a vision of affordable housing for the US.

A sketch of the Aluminaire House done in red, blue, and black pen — An early sketch of the Aluminaire House by architect Albert Frey.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA

It was not an obvious duo. Kocher was the respected editor of the Architectural Record, a monthly magazine. Frey was a young, unproven architect from Switzerland.

The pair was inspired to create a house that used "standardized parts" and could be mass-produced.

A 1931 model of the Aluminaire House — The model of the Aluminaire House that was used to pitch manufacturers.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA

The two architects wanted to challenge conventional ideas about how a house should look. The house was designed to be built out of aluminum panels.

A model of the house debuted at a 1931 exhibition hosted by the Architectural League of New York City. It was the star of the show.

Three women and a man dressed in 1930's professional outfits look over drawings at a metal table. — Aluminaire House designer Frey sits at a table inside the 1931 model.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA

The model of the three-story house was relatively small, only 22 and a half feet wide.

Newspapers called it "the magic house of today," and were awe-struck at the "changeable rooms with moveable partitions." The New York Times was impressed that the house could be "rapidly constructed."

A magazine cover with a cartoon map of the Aluminaire House and a title saying, 'The Future.' — A cover from a magazine following the exhibition.
Logan U. Reaves, "Cut-Away Representation of the Home of the Future," Popular Mechanics, September 1932

One writer predicted that people would soon be able to "order more rooms by telephone" when their place was feeling too cramped.

New York architect Wallace Harrison loved the Aluminaire House so much that he paid $1,000 and shipped it to a plot of land he had recently purchased in Huntington, New York.

A black-and-white photograph of the Aluminaire House assembled in the Long Island woods — Harrison fell in love with the home when he saw it in New York City.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA

Harrison was involved with many iconic New York City projects, including Rockefeller Center, the United Nations Headquarters, and the Metropolitan Opera.

News reports from the time say he wanted the Aluminaire House built as quickly as possible because his wife wanted more space after having a baby.

At some point, Harrison lost interest in his prized possession. The Aluminaire House, once a shining star of the architectural world, fell into disrepair throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Dilapidated interiors with a hole in the ceiling and graffitti on the walls — Graffiti lined the house's walls over the years it was abandoned.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA

Harrison moved the house once during the time he owned it, in the 1940s, to further down the hill it was already sitting on. It's not known when he abandoned it altogether, though he would sometimes let friends stay there.

A plastic surgeon bought Harrison's regular house in 1984 and was granted a demolition permit for the Aluminaire House.

The Aluminaire House under construction with a new wooden staircase — Inside the Aluminaire House during its remodeling.
Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Williamsburg, VA

Even though it had fallen into disrepair, multiple groups of architects and enthusiasts still visited the home for its significance.

Professor Jon Michael Schwarting helped win a state grant to repair the historic home. Over 11 years, he and his architecture students returned the home to its former glory.

Students at the Islip campus of the New York Institute of Technology would take a class with Schwarting and work each semester on the restoration of the Aluminaire House. Another professor, Frances Campani, oversaw the work on the house.

When NYIT closed its Islip campus in 2005, a new site was needed. A former playground in Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, was chosen.

The Aluminaire House sits between brick buildings in Queens — The Aluminaire House was moved to a former playground in the NYC borough of Queens in the mid-2000s.
Jon Michael Schwarting and Frances Campani

However, a group of residents opposed the Aluminaire House and said it was an eyesore.

Midcentury-modern enthusiasts suggested moving the home to Palm Springs, where Frey already had a dedicated fan base. The home was packed up and driven cross-country.

An 18-wheeler with "Aluminaire" emblazoned on the side — The tractor-trailer that held the Aluminaire House.
Jon Michael Schwarting and Frances Campani

The Aluminaire House was packed up in 2012, but didn't make the trip to California until 2017.

Now, the house has a permanent home — as an exhibit near the Palm Springs Art Museum.

A rendering of the Aluminaire House in its new Palm Springs location — A rendering showing the Aluminaire House at its current site in Palm Springs, California.
Courtesy of Palm Springs Art Museum, Renderings, Claudiu, Cengher

The project was completed in February 2024 and is now open to the public. Schwarting and Campani — the long-time stewards of the home — attended its ribbon cutting.

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