The U.S. Movement for Mass-Produced Concrete Housing, 1900 to 1924
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2024
Abstract
This paper describes the birth, rise, and fall ofa movement that took the United States by storm during the 1900s and 1910s: the dream of mass-producing housing out of concrete. Thomas Edison played a key role in spreading this dream. Yet an overarching historical account will contextualise and relativise his well-known contribution amongst that ofother businesspeople and designers including Grosvenor Atterbury, John Conzelman, Frank Lambie, Milton Dana Morrill, Irving GUI, and Frank Lloyd Wright. They belonged to a vocal and active faction ofAmericans who, around 1910, proselytised a common message in favour ofserial concrete housing despite disagreeing on which building methods to use. World War I initially offered a major boost to their cause, but then turned into a missed opportunity that arguably provedfatal. However, -white the U.S. concrete-house movement undoubtedly trqfficked in hyperbole and overconßdent prophecies, evidence in this paper will counter the misperception that few concrete dwellings ever saw the light ofday there. The long-lasting effects ofthis movement transcended its premature end, notably by promulgating ideas about concrete and modern housing that would later become common currency around the world.
Identifier
85218953374 (Scopus)
Publication Title
Construction History
ISSN
02677768
First Page
23
Last Page
49
Issue
2
Volume
39
Recommended Citation
Santiago, Etien, "The U.S. Movement for Mass-Produced Concrete Housing, 1900 to 1924" (2024). Faculty Publications. 697.
https://digitalcommons.njit.edu/fac_pubs/697
