FoMA Supports the Preservation the Aluminaire House
The Aluminaire House was a ground-breaking early Modern house that is unique among buildings that were instrumental in introducing Modernism to America. Designed in 1931 by architects A. Lawrence Kocher, managing editor of the Architectural Record, and Albert Frey, a Swiss Modernist who had studied with LeCorbusier, it was built as a case study to demonstrate the effective use of industrial materials such as aluminum and steel in a domestic building. With materials donated by companies in exchange for publicity, the house was built in ten days and received much attention in an exhibition sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art in New York that opened in 1932, “The International Style - Architecture Since 1922.” The house displayed many original features including corrugated aluminum siding, support for two upper floors of the house provided by six aluminum columns, large windows, a top floor terrace, steel doors, and black linoleum floors. It was intended to demonstrate the use of new materials, be affordable and low maintenance, and have access to fresh air and natural day light, hence its name Aluminaire.