Homes of Tomorrow: The World's Fair Houses That Crossed the Lake

In nineteen thirty-three, the Chicago World's Fair showcased five experimental model homes in an exhibit called Homes of Tomorrow. They featured dishwashers, air conditioning, and construction materials that most Americans had never seen. A developer named Robert Bartlett bought all five houses and floated them by barge across Lake Michigan to Beverly Shores, Indiana, where he was trying to build a resort community to rival Chicago's North Shore neighborhoods.

The Depression killed his dream, but the houses survived. The National Park Service took over the land in nineteen sixty-six. For decades the houses sat neglected, leased to residents who had little reason to maintain them.

Then Indiana Landmarks stepped in, re-leasing the homes with strict restoration covenants to buyers willing to do the work. Today all five stand in Indiana Dunes National Park, though one, the House of Tomorrow, still awaits restoration. It is the strangest cluster of architecture on the lakeshore.