1818 East Long Street
Vogel House

Woodland Park also had a Lustron Home, reported to be the first Lustron erected in Columbus in 1948. This house was carefully disassembled in 2017 and is presently in storage awaiting it's future, as the land was sold to St. Charles Preparatory School. 

Lustron Homes were made of interlocking porcelain enamel steel panels hung inside and outside on an all-steel frame. These "prefab" homes were manufactured between 1947 and 1950 by the Lustron Corporation of Columbus.

Lustron homes were made in several models and colors, this one is the Westchester Deluxe model in maize yellow with desert tan trim. The original cost of this home would have been around $7,000.

The Lustron, designed by Carl G. Stradlund, was intended to be a low-cost, mass produced, prefabricated solution to the post-World War II housing shortage. The homes were advertised as maintenance free, cost approximately $7,000, and were mostly produced for only two years, 1949 and 1950.  Lustron homes were considered to be three times stronger than a traditional wood frame house and were advertised to resist rodents, fire, lightning and rust.

A complete house was shipped from the factory to building site and could be assembled on a cement foundation slab in three to four days. the homes had built-in cabinets and closets, radiant panel heating system, and combination clothes and dishwasher.

The Lustron Corporation built approximately 2,498 Lustron Homes in a former aircraft plant in Columbus before financial pressures from production problems, difficulties with varying building codes, and resistance from traditional builders led to the close of the factory.

The former headquarters for the Lustron Homes Corporation is now a warehouse and main shipping hub for DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse). The facility is located at 4200 East Fifth Avenue, just south of the Port Columbus International Airport.

On November 10, 1947 Helen L. Vogel bought the land for this house from the J.E. McNally Lumber Company. At the time, she and her husband lived at 1096 Bryden Road.

Helen G. Lutrell was born about 1913 in Ohio, daughter of Arthur S. and Grace D. Lutrell. She married Walter Carlyle Vogel. Carlyle was born in Columbus on February 23, 1900, son of Phillip and Alice Katherine Vogel.

In 1938 the Vogels lived at 1085 Franklin Avenue and Carlyle was working as a road construction contractor. Vogel ran a cartage/trucking business in the 1950s, Vogel Cartage, from 1824 East Long Street, located behind the house.

Helen died March 16, 1959. The widowed Carlyle married divorcee Betty Marie (Sturgeon) Mobley. Betty was born on August 31, 1919. Carlyle died July 2, 1981 and the property was tranferred to Betty. 

Betty, then living in Delaware County, sold the house to S and M Properties on November 27, 1985. Betty died in Powell on October 18, 2007.

The last owner of the home purchased it in November 1987 and sold it in late 2014.

This home is referenced in Ohio Magazine, November 1995, p. 71.

1818 East Long Street, circa 2010

Carl G. Stradlund