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Harman Houses

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late 1940s. 928 Delaney, 944 Delaney, 243 West Cook, 255 West Cook
  • Harman Houses (Alison K. Hoagland)
  • Harman Houses (Alison K. Hoagland)

Yet another prefabricated building type is the Harman house, a metal building. Built by the Alaska Railroad, it is a simple one-story, gable-roofed building. Harman houses were constructed of thin sheet steel fastened to steel wall studs and roof trusses. Partition walls had steel studs covered with wallboard. Windows were metal-framed. The exterior finish was a special paint, resembling stucco. Despite an initial order of 4,200 houses, the Philadelphia-based Harman Corporation filed for bankruptcy in 1948, after less than two years' existence. Only 400 houses had been shipped.

The four Harman houses constructed on Government Hill have new exterior sidings, and all but the house at 928 Delaney have had large additions. The house at 944 Delaney retains an original casement window. The house at 243 West Cook was the only one of the four built as a split-level.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Alison K. Hoagland
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Data

What's Nearby

AEC Cottages
Loxtave Houses
Quonset Huts
Alaska Railroad Depot
Government Hill

Citation

Alison K. Hoagland, "Harman Houses", [Anchorage, Alaska], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/AK-01-SC035.4.

Print Source

Buildings of Alaska, Alison K. Hoagland. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993, 103-104.

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