Along the Lake Michigan shoreline in the Indiana Dunes National Park is a collection of five extraordinary houses. They were built for the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago that was titled The Century of Progress. Millions of people came to the fair to marvel at the futuristic homes.The houses were named the Florida Tropical, Rostone, Armco-Ferro, Cypress House and the House of Tomorrow, and showcased modern construction materials and techniques.
After the fair, Developer Robert Bartlett purchased the homes. He transported four of them by rolling them onto a barge using telephone poles. The Cypress house was dismantled and shipped by truck. He moved the houses to his Beverly Shores resort community. He hoped that the homes would garner attention to his development and boost sales. Unfortunately, the Great Depression hampered the sale of his homes. In 1966, the National Park Service took over the area that included Beverly Shores, and it became part of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
Homeowners became lessees; with little incentive to maintain the houses, they fell into a state of disrepair. The homes were eventually leased to Indiana Landmarks, which, in turn, did long term subleases to people willing to renovate them back to their former glory.
Four of the houses have been restored with the House of Tomorrow being the final home to be completed. It is a unique octagon-shaped house with large windows. The first level was designed as an airplane hangar, thinking in the future everyone would have their own aircraft to fly for daily errands and commute to work.
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