Wednesday, March 26, 2008


Haven't you always wanted a care-free house?
Imagine never having to paint your house or put on a new roof. Wouldn't that be great? After World War II, Alcoa — the world's third largest aluminum manufacturer — tried to sell America on the idea of living in an aluminum house. The company set up sales offices around the country in an attempt to sell "care-free living." I don't know whether this project was a success (perhaps someone can point me to a few resources), but Sotheby's is trying to sell an Alcoa Care-Free unit in St. Louis Park for $575,000. The house features an "aluminum roof, exterior doors and windows," an open floor plan and "California rambler style living."

Crazy, baby! I love it!

Now, where did I put that cocktail?

Your chance to see the house is on Friday, April 4 at 5:30 p.m., according to Preserve Minneapolis and Sotheby's International Realty. The exact address is 8000 Westwood Hills Drive. Directions are on the Preserve Minneapolis website.

To learn more about the Alcoa Care-Free house, go to Mid-Century Mike's Modern Capital blog. He lives in a similar house near Washington, D.C.

(NOTE: This blog entry was updated on April 3, 2008 to reflect the fact that Preserve Minneapolis is co-sponsoring the open house, not the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota. Sorry.)


(Photos courtesy of sfp237's flickr page)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Don't see...evil script on fenridal
site!

toddmelby said...

Thanks for that, anonymous. I deleted the post you were referenced.

Anonymous said...

Glad to help!

Yeah for Mozilla Firefox browser with the no scripts plugin!

If I had clicked on that site from
IE, Ida been toast!

P.S. I look forward to reading your
comments on the Alcoa house after
you've seen it.

Like to know who at Alcoa had the idea for those houses...

Would be interesting to know how many of those there are locally, how they compare to the Lustrons...what were the positives and negatives of living in a aluminum house in Minnesota...

is it like living inside a pop can?

What's the sound level like in there? Does it conduct heat and cold extremely?

What about the wiring place, and
plumbing? Does hail dent it?

Wonder what the former owners have to say about living there...since there is a tour they probably did a good job of preserving it as much as possible!