BEVERLY SHORES — Rain dripped through the ceiling of the airplane garage at the bottom of the House of Tomorrow, the pioneering 12-sided glass house Chicago architect George Fred Keck designed as an example of the future's limitless potential for the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.
A crowd of historic preservationists, Indiana National Park officials and political representatives gathered Thursday in the drafty, dilapidated basement of the innovative home that's been declared a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation to celebrate the home being saved after decades of preservation efforts.
No one has lived in the House of Tomorrow for 25 years, and it shows. Dignitaries avoided puddles that formed under the rotting roof and huddled under heat lamps as the bracing, chilly wind whipped in from Lake Michigan.
Restoration work kicked off on a $4 million project to strengthen the structure and repair the exterior of the experimental house, located in the 1933 Chicago World's Fair Century of Progress District in the Indiana Dunes National Park.
People are also reading…
Developer Robert Bartlett ferried a dozen homes from the 1933 World's Fair across Lake Michigan to the resort community he was developing along the shoreline in Porter County. Only six remain today, five of which are protected by a unique arrangement between the National Park Service and Indiana Landmarks.
The others were all torn down, lost to history. The House of Tomorrow avoided the same fate despite years of neglect and decay after the U.S. Department of the Interior awarded $4 million for its restoration through the Great American Outdoors Act Legacy Restoration Fund.
“It’s official: There is a tomorrow for the House of Tomorrow,” Indiana Landmarks President Marsh Davis said. “This day is a tribute to the many people who have championed this incredible structure and worked for so long to bring it back to its original vision. ... This just proves some things are worth waiting for."
Construction is expected to be completed next summer. Indiana Landmarks is still working on a plan for the interior restoration and rehabilitation of the three-story, 12-room steel-and-glass house.
"It is an honor to join you for this momentous occasion, the beginning of something truly transformation in our backyard," said Jose Diaz, regional director for U.S. Sen. Todd Young.
The House of Tomorrow has been dubbed “America’s First Glass House," featuring firsts that included solar heating through floor-to-ceiling glass walls, an attached garage with an electric door opener, a General Electric dishwasher, an iceless refrigerator in an era of ice boxes, a photoelectric sensor that opened and shut the kitchen door, an open floor plan and an electric eye that served as a predecessor to today's video doorbells.
Keck, who designed modern homes across Chicago and the Midwest, attempted to envision how modern conveniences would change domestic life. His passive solar heated design would prove widely influential and long predate famous glass houses like Philip Johnson’s Glass House and Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House.
Like most of the Century of Progress Homes, it ended up privately owned until it was acquired by the National Park Service for the then-Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in the 1960s and 1970s. The National Park Service and Indiana Landmarks teamed up when the houses started to deteriorate by offering long-term subleases to tenants who agreed to fix them up.
The unique approach saved four of the houses, but the House of Tomorrow has been vacant and boarded-up since 1999 due to the high cost and complexity of fixing it up.
Lead architecture firm bKL Architecture came up with a design that will maintain Keck's original vision while modernizing the house, such as by adding triple-glazed windows, since the original glass windows overpowered the air conditioning system and made parts of the home uninhabitable. The new design will not include the copper cladding the house was long known for since it wasn't part of Keck's original vision and was only added in 1934 after the original temporary siding failed.
Berglund Construction will do repairs, such as replacing the concrete floor and strengthening the steel spoke-and-wheel structural system. It will replace the stairs and railings around the exterior terraces. They will salvage the parquet floors, metal baseboards, original Carrera glass wall cladding and other significant interior features to be re-installed in a future phase.
Once the exterior work is complete, the House of Tomorrow will have glass walls on the second and third floors and a first floor with a smooth board that's painted black.
"It's our job to stop this rain leaking in," said Jeff Berglund, president of the building division of Berglund Construction. "We're a local construction firm with a specialty in historic preservation and restoration. We're here in Chesterton where I live and grew up. As the news of this project became public, I have seen and heard excitement all over the Region and beyond. I'm a cyclist. I have ridden by this building 500 times. I always look up and think how great it would be if someone would restore it to its original glory. What an honor for us to be part of the team that will make that a reality. We're grateful to know our children and future generations will get to admire this important cultural landmark."
The goal is to finish the exterior work in time for the 90th anniversary of the House of Tomorrow's relocation to Beverly Shores.
A look back at Northwest Indiana businesses that closed in 2023
A look back at Region businesses that closed in 2023
Beer Geeks, one of the Region's first, most beloved and most influential craft beer bars, closed after more than a decade and is being reimagined as a new concept.
The landmark 88-year-old castle-shaped White Castle in Whiting is coming down to be replaced with a newer, larger, more modern White Castle restaurant.
A longtime staple in downtown Crown Point poured its last drink.
The longtime Westforth Sports gun shop is closing.
The Silver Line Building Products plant at 16801 Exchange Ave. will be shuttered permanently.
Brewfest in Highland will close in what's been called "an end of an era."
David's Bridal filed for bankruptcy and could close all stores if no buyer emerges to save it.
The 88-year-old Whiting White Castle will be remembered with displays at museums in two different states.
For years, the "millionaire's club" met every morning in the corner booth of the historic 88-year-old White Castle at Indianapolis Boulevard and 119th Street in downtown Whiting. The landmark restaurant served its final slider Tuesday.
One of Northwest Indiana's most popular and enduring hobby shops is looking for a buyer after the longtime owner died.
J&L This N That Consignment Shop, a popular thrift store, closed in downtown Whiting after a run of several years.
A Calumet Region institution, Calumet Fisheries on the far South Side of Chicago, is temporarily closed after failing a city health inspection.
Just days after reopening after city health inspectors shut it down, Calumet Fisheries suffered a major fire.
Pepe's Mexican Restaurant is no mas in Valparaiso.
Beer Geeks in Highland rebranded as B-Side Bar & Lounge and then closed within a few months.
Troubled retailer Bed Bath and Beyond will permanently close its Valparaiso location as it shutters more stores nationwide as it looks to restructure and shrink its footprint to save the struggling business.
Peoples Bank has shuttered its branch in downtown Hammond.
Viking Artisan Ales will soon pour its last craft beer at its Merrillville taproom.
Old Chicago Pizza & Taproom is closing after 15 years at one of Northwest Indiana's most prominent highway interchanges.
The Chicago Auto Show, the nation's largest auto show, returns to McCormick Place Saturday, running through Feb. 19.