Each of the pieces has been labeled with blue tape to keep them all straight

Parts used to hold the interior and exterior wall panels

together all sorted and waiting for reassembly

Cleaned exterior panels awaiting restoration

(the chimney is the large piece in front)

One of the window frames put back together and awaiting restoration

The most badly damaged window sill, the bottom piece will need to be replaced

Wooden pieces with metal edges that went in between

interior and exterior panels to help hold them in place.

The ends of most of them have rotted and will need replacing.

All that remains of the garage door

A fully restored window that has been reassembled

A mock-up panel that shows the various levels of treatment,

from the cleaned steel (far right) to the metallization and various coats of paint,

finishing with the final glossy layer of paint (far left)

Philadelphia Visit

Restoration continues on the Steel House. MCC has made more progress restoring the individual pieces of the disassembled Steel House. I recently got to go to Philadelphia to visit MCC’s studio and see the work in progress. All the pieces are sorted by type, and the damage and repairs needed have been cataloged. Each of the windows have been disassembled, repaired as necessary, cleaned, and repainted. Some of them have been reassembled, and I was able to see an example of a window that had been put back together and see how each of the pieces fit into one another.

All of the panels have been cleaned, and are awaiting the next stage of restoration. MCC has one sample panel that has been through all four steps of restoration, including metalizing, and multiple layers of paint, ending with a high-gloss paint that will be the ultimate finish to all the panels once they are fully restored. Although the sample paint used is a different color than has been selected, the final color will be a light grey that is close to the original color General Houses used when they produced the panels.

Seeing the workshop with all of the pieces sorted and laid out made me realize how complex the Steel House is, and what a huge job everyone at MCC has in disassembling, restoring, and reassembling it.