Ready-Made House Costs $500 (Oct, 1937)
Filed under: Architecture — @ 12:27 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1937
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Oct, 1937
| Buy on Ebay
Ready-Made House Costs $500
Equipped with a stove, refrigerator, window screens, dining table, couch, and other home accessories, a new type of prefabricated house costs less than $500. Designed as a first unit to which later additions may be made, the factory-built structure includes living room, dinette, and kitchen, with folding beds for four people.
What a change: nowadays those windows would cost more than $500 each.
And I can’t imagine how how bitterly cold that place would get in the winter. I don’t see how a furnace or even a woodstove could fit in there, and there certainly isn’t any insulation like there would be in a log or sod house. People would die in droves during the first winter, either from the cold or from CO from a heater.
Maybe they were only used in extreme southern Florida?
Comment by Blurgle — November 22, 2007 @ 3:24 pm
Things had changed in the other direction on the timeline too; when my house was built in 1900 it enclosed 1600 sq feet (expanded later to over 2000), was built out of heart pine and came with 6 gables, a tin roof, and a covered porch. On it’s half acre lot it sold new for $1000.
It still sports the original roof.
The pine was considered to be “low end” in those days but because of its high content of sap acted as its own deterrent to termites. That’s how so many of the “cheap” houses like mine survived and the nice ones made of oak crumbled away.
I’ve often wondered about the heating in an old house like mine, it has three small fireplaces for burning coal and a flue in the kitchen for a wood stove. When it was built there was no insulation other than an inch of siding board, 4 inches of dead air, and an inch of wallboard inside and before I renovated it, the place got COLD!
Those folks were made of sterner stuff than me!
Of course the lack of heat probably was low on the list of complaints, particularly when considering there was no indoor plumbing in the house until 1922.
Comment by Neil Russell — November 22, 2007 @ 4:09 pm
What’s the size of that structure? Maybe, 8′ by 20′? If so, that’s 120 square feet. Four folding beds? It would be inhuman for four people to live in that small box.
Comment by Mike Brisendine — November 23, 2007 @ 6:39 am
That sould be 160 square feet. Sorry.
Comment by Mike Brisendine — November 23, 2007 @ 6:41 am
You would need very little heat to heat a place that small. I have been in small tents in the winter that got all steamy inside with nothing but body heat, so a house that size (assuming there are not a lot of leaks could probably get warm from a kerosene lantern or a small stove.
Comment by mc — September 12, 2008 @ 7:58 pm
I’m doing something interesting I think. During Katrina when I couldn’t find some friends I designed a house to withstand tsunami, hurricane, tornado, and probably fire too. Now it’s morphed into different categories. I’m a student (older) and I FINALLY bought a lot to start building one. Anyone interested in something like this please write meghager@gmail.com I need help. Meg
Comment by Meg — September 21, 2008 @ 2:43 am
Dear Sir,
I search your site.Kindly send me details of ready made house with covered area and price.
Thanks
Comment by tariq hussain malik — October 30, 2008 @ 9:46 am
dear sir/madam,i am a student and i am searching for a readymade low cost house for the economically weaker section.
please do reply and provide answers for my following doubts.
1. area of the house
2. materials and method of production of house
3. area required for producing a house
4. weight of a house
5. is it foldable?
6. can the house be produced on site?
7. are multi-storeys possible in this type of house?
8.cost of a manufactured house.
Comment by c.karthikeyan — November 20, 2008 @ 10:30 am
We do ship affordable ready made houses. Please email me for a full brochure
Comment by Mohan — January 3, 2009 @ 12:26 pm
It looks a little like the ‘container cottage’ house made of a disused shipping container. They happen to be 8′x20′ (or 8×40′ for the big ones.)
Or this one, for those who like things fancier: http://www.azuremagazine.com/m.....03&c=2
Comment by Toronto — January 3, 2009 @ 2:54 pm
ii would pay easily more then 500
Comment by samuel boothe — March 19, 2009 @ 10:03 am
Want prefabricate home for plot size 30×45 feet. can you please send the details and costing.
Comment by Lalchand — August 4, 2009 @ 7:48 am
please send me about the Ready made houses details for the my mail address.
Comment by sujith — August 14, 2009 @ 4:51 am
You notice how MANY people are expecting to be EMailed but gave no EMail address?
Meanwhile, look how much better for $725.
http://prefabcosm.com/blog/200.....ars-homes/
Comment by -DOUG- — August 14, 2009 @ 8:26 pm
Seeing as how they’re responding to an article from 1937 I’d say that it’s par for the course.
Comment by Firebrand38 — August 14, 2009 @ 8:55 pm
sir,
i m a student and i want to know the whole process of building low cost readymade homes
Comment by deepak — August 31, 2009 @ 6:02 am
I am from Srilanka and i recently bought a land in Florida near Panama City. Now i want to get somebody or a company to build a small house there for me. Can you help me in this regard?
Thanks
Kassa
Comment by kassa — September 6, 2009 @ 12:10 am