In 1947, the Lustron company developed a design for a prefabricated house made of steel. This was seen as a solution to the housing shortage caused by lack of wartime production followed by all those GIs coming home and getting married. The Lustron house not only had a steel frame, but also walls and a roof made of steel covered with porcelain enamel. It was durable, easy to clean, and wouldn't rot, meaning you wouldn't have to paint or repair it. For a few years, it was considered the future of housing.
So what happened to this idea? From the perspective of 70 years later, we can see the houses are too small, but that wasn't a big consideration at the time. They would have been really hard to alter or add to, but that wasn't its downfall, either. Rather, it was the company's missteps that led to financial problems that sunk the Lustron steel house. Could a house like this make a comeback? Possibly, with a few tweaks. After all, we still have mobile and modular homes made of metal that can be customized and transported. -via Vox