the house of steel

During the Depression, a Chicago company’s prefabricated steel houses–small but efficient "machines for living in"–looked like the answer to America’s housing problems. Ultimately sales were limited, but the company’s innovative approach to homebuilding offered a way forward in a time of crisis.

Today, Connecticut College’s steel house at 130 Mohegan Avenue (1933) is among the few buildings left to tell the tale of the modern prefab movement’s first wave of excitement in the early 1930s. Like its "sister" prefab next door, the Winslow Ames House (1934), it’s also one of the first International Style homes in New England.

Modern. Prefabricated. Historic. It’s Connecticut College’s House of Steel.

the house of steel project

Unfortunately, the steel house has deteriorated in recent years. But it’s not too late to revive this important historic resource. Now a group of faculty, staff, and students at Connecticut College, along with historic preservation consultants, architects, and others, are making plans to rehabilitate the House of Steel.