General Houses

It is notorious that the U. S., most precocious child of the Industrial Revolution, is a laggard in Housing--the business of furnishing cheap and comfortable shelter. Less than half the homes in the U. S. measure up to minimum standards of decency. Surveying U. S. housing in five articles (Feb.-July), FORTUNE laid the blame upon: "The inefficiency and disorder of its management, the dependence upon speculative real-estate dealers which hampers it in its purchases of land, the costliness of its methods, the exorbitant rates of its financing, the obstructive tactics of its labor, the complication and stupidity of the building code and taxing laws which beset it." In measuring how far the housing industry has lagged behind the Industrial Revolution, FORTUNE found that whereas the $5,000 automobile of 1911 now sells for $2,000, the $20.000 house of 1911 still sells for $40,000. Pointing out the frontier still to be crossed, FORTUNE concluded that "if the industry could build a good house to sell at $4,800, it would add 60% to its small-house sales in its present market. ... If the industry could build a good house to sell at $3,600. it would double its post-War residential output, which in 'normal' years has amounted to $3,000,000,000, and invade the new market."

The frontier has not been totally neglected. There have been stirrings indicative of the application of science and scientific methods to shelter just as there have been to transportation. In Europe especially architects have been studying the efficiency of the home as a home in addition to cost-saving devices in building it. Many architects in the U. S. have tackled the problem individually. Housing developments such as Sunnyside. L. I., have realized the savings resultant from large-scale building. A special committee of United States Steel Corp. has studied steel houses. American Rolling Mill Co. sees a future when steel will be used for streets as well as houses. McClintic-Marshall has tried a small steel frame house division. In the secret laboratories of A. O. Smith Corp. of Milwaukee (largest maker of automobile frames and a leading manufacturer of welded steel pipes) engineers are known to be at work on housing.

Last week announcement was made of a new company which will provide cheap, efficient, attractive homes at prices which will cross the frontier of the. low-salaried worker. In scope as well as in name, General Houses, Inc., will resemble the highly-articulated automobile company which caters to all classes. First statement about the new company and its purposes was made in the July issue of FORTUNE.

General Houses, Inc. is based upon the belief that good, cheap homes can be furnished better by a group of companies contributing special services than by one large manufacturing concern. Companies furnishing General Houses with supplies will be:

Pullman Car & Manufacturing Corp., a subsidiary of Pullman Inc., with much experience in building steel shelter-units. This company will supply pressed-steel panels.

Concrete Engineering Co., a leading Middle West concern with a famed staff of engineers.

Thomas A. Edison Inc., maker of cement.

Container Corp. of America, which will handle insulation, ceilings, partitions.

Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co., largest in the U. S.

Curtis Companies Inc., whose carpenters can turn out 3,000 doors and 6.000 window-frames a day.

General Electric Co. which will supply wiring and refrigeration.

American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corp., which will supply plumbing, heating, perhaps airconditioning.

For uniting the efforts of these companies, full credit goes to Howard Fisher of Hubbard Woods, Ill., the lanky, 26-year-old son of Walter Lowrie Fisher, one of Chicago's leading lawyers. Secretary of the Interior under President Taft. Howard Fisher is both a technician and theorist in architecture. Architects in many lands have read his paper on getting the maxi mum amount of sunlight into a house. He is considered an expert on designing squash courts. One day he noticed his brother's walls were leaking. When he found out that Chicago's Field Museum and Shedd Aquarium, both masonry structures, also had leak troubles, he decided steel would be a better building material than brick. He first took his idea of a General Motors in the housing field to steel-conscious Charles Allen Liddle, president of Pullman Car & Manufacturing Corp.

General Houses' homes will be, strictly speaking, made of steel. The frames will be of steel and so will the floors which will be of battle-deck construction. Insulation will make General Houses warm in winter, cool in summer. They will have flat, aluminum painted roofs, many windows. The exterior will be painted. By standardization of parts, numerous models and combinations of rooms can be offered. At present the company has approved various Fisher designs for five-room homes to cost around $3,500.

A home at this price can be sold at $30 a month, making it available to a man with a wage of $2,000 a year. Dealer organizations will be set up in large cities, ready to sell and erect a house in four days. Landscape gardening service will be available. Later perhaps furniture will be offered by General Houses. Because the houses will be of known value it is thought that they will be easily borrowed upon or "turned in" like used cars whenever the owner wishes. The matter of value is considered important by General Houses, which is aware that under present conditions a homeowner may usually obtain only 55% on a conservative first mortgage. The company plans to consolidate first and second mortgages, to lend 75% of the value of house & lot on reasonable terms, the financing to be handled by an affiliated company. General Houses expects to add later a line of still cheaper houses for large-scale projects, also a de luxe line which will be to it what Cadillac is to General Motors.

The idea of a "machine-made house" may not be accepted quickly. But Architect Fisher feels that when people see such homes are cheaper, more attractive, more comfortable to live in, prejudice will diminish. He points out that mass-production has increased rather than hurt the functional and esthetic beauty of automobiles. Large advertising campaigns will be put on and when competitors arrive, the structural features of various types of houses may be as widely-known and discussed as Floating Power and Free Wheeling.

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