ADVANCED MATERIALS & PROCESSES | MAY 2026 30 exercise room, and bathroom occupied the opposite side of the plan as a single open space subdivided by a folding screen, with beds intended to hang from the ceiling. Above the dining area, a library gallery doubled as a second bedroom and included its own compact bathroom with a shower that projected into the living room volume below. The library opened directly onto the roof terrace. Recessed neon tubes with reflectors simulated natural daylight in the living room, while a dedicated ultraviolet tube aided sun exposure—reflecting Kocher and Frey’s published advocacy for maximizing daylight in residential design. Built-in cabinetry, fold-away fixtures, and space-saving fittings reinforced the house’s role as a prototype for efficient, industrially produced dwellings. Materials were donated by over 30 manufacturers. Westinghouse, McClintic-Marshall (a Bethlehem Steel subsidiary), and Pittsburgh Plate Glass all contributed, while ALCOA supplied the corrugated aluminum cladding and Truscon provided the steel floor decking, windows, and stairs. Claude Neon Lights Inc. of New York furnished colored fluorescent tubes. Because of the compressed schedule and the variety of suppliers involved, the house could not be trial-assembled off-site and was erected for the first time within the Grand Central Palace exhibition hall. ARCHITECTURAL REVIEWS The Aluminaire House attracted immediate attention. The New York Herald Tribune reported that it marked a new direction in building harmonized with modern mechanical progress. Visitors queued to enter during the exhibition’s run. It was, however, not without its critics—a cartoon in another article showed a burglar with a large pair of tin snips in his hands. New York architect Wallace K. Harrison bought the Aluminaire House for $1000 during the exhibition. Harrison intended the novel home as a weekend abode for his family. Disassembly took six hours; reassembly proved more difficult at Harrison’s Huntington, Long Island, estate as a heavy rainstorm had washed away the chalked identification numbers from the components. Diagonal bracing was added to the north wall to restore structural rigidity. Harrison subsequently added single-story wings to either side of the garage and later relocated the house to a hillside on the property, burying the ground floor as a basement and enclosing the open roof terrace. Left to corrode for roughly 45 years, the house Harrison called a “tin house” was barely recognizable. When a demolition permit was requested in 1986, a public campaign led by the Huntington Historical Society and covered by the New York Times secured the house’s rescue. Architecture Front view. Courtesy of Frauke Hogue. West view. Courtesy of Frauke Hogue.
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