T oday we’re taking a trip in the way-back machine to 1955. We’ll visit the surf-blue Lustron home restored to its midcentury shine by the father and son team of John Kennamann and Kaleb Higgins. Chelsea, an affable pink hippo, greets visitors from the front yard. She and her minions, a flock of pink flamingos, set the playful tone for this house.
A battered typewriter from John’s grandfather, who was a typist in WWII, shows the fingerprints of his life and sits on his former desk at right. Today, approximately 1,400 of the 2,500+ homes manufactured by the Lustron Corporation from 1948 to 1950 remain. Fewer than 100 feature the three-bedroom floor plan. The all-steel homes clad in porcelain-enameled steel panels and topped with a steel roof were easy to maintain and resistant to fire, hazardous weather and gnawing insects. The interior walls, ceilings, sliding pocket doors and built-in shelving are metal. Kennamann and Higgins dedicated themselves to fixing and preserving this midcentury historic home because of its significant cultural and historical value. They nailed every period detail to remain faithful to this post-World War II “home of the future.”
People are also reading…
Kennamann was already familiar with this particular south St. Louis home. “When I was 15 we were driving around St. Louis. My dad pointed out this house and said, ‘I want to buy it, so he’s had his eye on this house for 20 years,” Higgins says. When it came on the market in 2021, the two snapped it up.
The retro bathroom inside the Lustron hom. Lesser mortals may have been deterred by its condition, but not Kennamann and Higgins. “When we bought the house, the quality of what was left here wouldn’t be worth saving if it wasn’t for the fact this is a three-bedroom model, which is exceedingly rare,” Kennamann says. First, they had to restore the place, so they bought a second Lustron for spare parts. “We bought it for $5,000 on Facebook marketplace. It sat untouched in storage for 39 years in the basement of a Kansas City apartment building,” Kennamann says. “The owner tore down a house that had been built in Wisconsin. Unfortunately, he didn’t like the kitchen, so he left it there on the lot.
The kitchen Kennamann and Higgins restored to its original state. Note how the pass-through window expands counter space and includes shelving for period cookbooks, a canister set, cookie jars and jars of dried ingredients. You won’t find a microwave in sight. “I looked for a kitchen for about 15 months before I put a notice out on social media in a Lustron group. We got three calls, and drove to Iowa to pick up the one we chose,” Kennamann says. “We also picked up some of the kitchen cabinets destined for the dump that came from a house in Brentwood.” The back section of the house was missing pieces — three built-in closets and a hallway were gone — but solving complex problems is one of Higgins’ strengths. “He has a unique mind. He sees things in puzzles and in layers,” Kennamann says. “I had to figure out which of the 3,000 pieces we had from the house we bought in Kansas City would make these specific sections,” Higgins says. When Higgins viewed an intact Lustron in Tower Grove South, the jumble morphed into a spot-on restoration of the walls and closets. In addition to their skills with real estate, the two men are both born storytellers. “When I moved to Los Angeles I got into reality television, so mixing the two? That’s the creativity in my mind. You’re basically walking into a set here,” Kennamann says. Higgins also put in a stint in reality TV shows in LA and knows how to tell a tale. They chose the year 1955 as the guiding light to furnish and kit out the house.
The 1950s-era television on hairpin legs will broadcast 1950s films and commercials in the near future. The streamlined kitchen comes into view soon after you enter the home, its maize yellow steel walls gleam, and the built-ins include cabinets with pull-out drawers on bottom and space-saving sliding doors on top. The flow from kitchen to dining room makes for good mingling at parties. The duo found a pitch-perfect yellow Formica chrome kitchen table and chairs that sit in front of the built-in hutch in the adjacent dining room. Vintage glassware and china sit on the shelves.
The yellow Formica chrome kitchen table and chairs sits in front of the built-in hutch in the adjacent dining room. On the freestanding cabinet near the table a bowling ball bar whose top comes off to reveal shot glasses and a liquor dispenser while a big round-shouldered toaster stands ready to go. The open space living room includes a built-in shelf with a central mirror that adds light and expands the space. Kennamann and Higgins change out the magazines on the coffee table and the calendar on the wall each month, and it’s always 1955. They rent the house out as a short-term rental on
Airbnb.com. There’s a primary bedroom, a cowboy-themed bedroom, and a girl’s room, too, with vintage touches like a handmade blue box under the boy’s bed filled with treasures. Open a drawer in the girl’s bedroom and you’ll find her Girl Scout badges and memorabilia: a time capsule. As fun as the inside is, the outside provides plenty of entertainment— let’s just say there’s miniature golf course with a big rocket, a huge rubber ducky, a colorful T-Rex and more. And if miniature golf doesn’t float your boat, sit down to watch a movie in the outdoor theater, or simply watch the world go by and relax.
The serene primary bedroom with its midcentury modern furniture, chenille spread, fringed pillows and 1950s lamps. A huge dinosaur and a rocket ship adorn the back yard. At left is John Kennamann, and at right his son, Kaleb Higgins. Make your house a home
For the holidays: Get inspiring home and gift ideas – sign up now!
