This steel house in Peoria Heights, originally designed and manufactured by industrialist R.G. LeTourneau, is one of about 20 that still exist in and around Peoria. This one, like several others, is still being used as a single-family dwelling. (Photo courtesy of the Steel House Revival Committee).

An iconic steel house built more than 80 years ago could be restored and open for public display at a local museum by this fall, thanks to a concerted effort by a grass-roots committee.

Industrialist R.G. LeTourneau invented the steel houses during the Great Depression and manufactured a number of them at his Averyville factory on Northeast Adams Street in Peoria before a steel shortage during World War II put an end to the operation.

“Wrapped up in this tiny little house is the story of the necessity for invention, the Great Depression, World War II and how all of that impacted people’s everyday lives. I think that’s the really unique interesting part of this project,” said Brittany Brown, chairman of the Steel House Revival Committee and vice president of the Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation.

CILF teamed up with the Peoria Historical Society and the Wheels O’ Time Museum to save the house after Komatsu, which now sits on the grounds of LeTourneau’s old factory, agreed to donate the house to the foundation. Komatsu last used the building as office space in the 1980s.

“The house needs a significant amount of love,” Brown said. “What you could originally buy as a brand-new house in the late 1920s for $4,000 is going to cost about $180,000 worth of investment to get it back up and running.”

The committee has raised about half the necessary funding through private donations, grants and in-kind contributions of labor and materials, and recently announced a public campaign to fundraise the rest.

The $180,000 project estimate includes moving the house, completely renovating the inside and outside and also starts off the exhibit at Wheels O’ Time Museum with a maintenance fund.

“We want to make sure it comes to the museum with some funds for them to maintain it properly,” Brown said.

A group involved in a project to restore a steel house manufactured in Peoria during the Great Depression inspects the house at its current location on the grounds of Komatsu on Northeast Adams Street. The Steel House Revival Committee hopes to move and renovate the house and have it open to the public at the Wheels O’ Time Museum this fall. (Photo courtesy of the Steel House Revival Committee).

Wheels O’ Time Museum, located at 1710 W. Woodside Drive in Dunlap, has agreed to provide space for the house to honor LeTourneau and celebrate his creativity. The inventor, who moved his earthmoving design and manufacturing operations from California to Peoria in 1935, held more than 300 patents on his many inventions. He later founded LeTourneau University, a private Christian institution in Longview, Texas.

LeTourneau came up with the idea for an all-steel house when he realized that many of his workers in Peoria couldn’t find affordable housing during the Great Depression. He planned to float them from his manufacturing plant to the east side of the Illinois River, creating a colony of homes.

“Not long after this, World War II broke out, and we had a shortage of steel in the country so the production of this house was short-lived here,” Brown said.

LeTourneau’s steel house was a 24-foot-by-24-foot structure with steel walls, floors and a flat roof. Steel panels formed both the inner and outer walls to allow space for insulation against heat and cold. Because the houses were completely sealed, they were advertised as safe “against storm, dust, termites, flood, flame and other foes,” according to a news release by the Steel House Revival Committee.

Because of LeTourneau’s claims that the house would require minimum maintenance, he termed it a “Carefree Home.”

About 20 of the houses still exist in and around Peoria. Several are occupied today, though somewhat modified, in the 1100 block of Glen Avenue and the 1200 block of Kingman Avenue in Peoria Heights near the village tower.

Despite renovations over time, each of the houses remains distinctive because the windows are very close to every corner of the house. On some, steel brackets can be seen on the lower front and back sides of the house, which allowed a crane to lift and place the house on a foundation.

The committee hopes to begin site work at the museum in May and to move the house there by the end of May. Renovation work on the house would continue through the summer, with hopes to open it to the public in the fall, Brown said. Tours of the house would likely be included with general admission to the museum.

This sketch is of an all-steel house designed and manufactured in Peoria by industrialist R.G. LeTourneau, who saw a need for affordable housing for his factory workers during the Great Depression. A steel shortage during World War II shut down the manufacture of the homes.(Photo courtesy of the Steel House Revival Committee).

“Inside, the house will be finished and staged to look as it would have looked when it was sold as an original home during the Great Depression. There will also be exhibit information on LeTourneau, period information on Peoria and what was going on with the Great Depression and World War II, as well as information about the invention of the house,” she added.

Brown said several groups have stepped up so far to offer in-kind  donations of labor and materials toward the renovation, including Komatsu and Core Construction.

“The one we’re really trying to lock in now is lead paint abatement. If we can find someone to help us with the cost of lead paint abatement, then we are really on our way to seeing this through,” she added.

“We’ve had a really good response to this project,” Brown said. “A lot of people have stories about living in one these houses or knowing someone who lived in one. We even had a gentleman call us who went to school at LeTourneau University. People are really getting behind this.”

The committee is seeking donations of any amount. Donations can be made on a gofundme page at www.gofundme.com/the-steel-house-revival, via PayPal at the website www.steelhouserevival.com or by mailing a check to CILF at P.O. Box 495, Peoria, Ill. 61651.

— Grassroots efforts help give new life to landmark Peoria-made steel house —