Does anybody know when steel building (such as those modeled by Pikestuff or Micro Engineering) were first introduced and when they reached their peak of popularity in the US?
Thanks in advance for your help.
This may help. http://www.butlermfg.com/companyinfo/history.asp
If I am not mistaken the origin of steel buildings is the quonset hut designed for the military around WW2. They were self supporting arches made of corrugated galvanized steel that allowed erection anywhere for any use needed. I would suspect they were designed by the Seabees. anything else is a second or later generation idea.
Uh-oh, sorry Ndbprr, according to the above cited Butler link:
". . . By 1940, Butler Manufacturing Company had a complete line of rigid frame buildings ready to hit the market. . . . . Their first steel building, a garage was sold in 1910. Who knew ?
Bob
NMRA Life 0543
Metal buildings have been around a long time, as your research has indicated reading the other threads. I recall corrugated metal buildings on my uncles farm as a child in the 60’s. i also remember them inthe local industrial area, at the docks in Oakland, CA, and our school district used them for warehousing. they weren’t popular in the business district of our town, but the local auction house was a corrugated building.
I currently live and work in KY, and metal buildings are very popular here, My place of business, a screw factory, is in one. You will see them here used for churches,businesses, airport hangers, barns, garages and other out buildings. I have never seen them used for schools or personal residences, or as restaurants. Even our local radio station is in a small matal building. So is the firehouse.
I found these photos of quonset huts:
http://www.polarinertia.com/may04/quonset01.htm
There are a lot of interesting photos on the site. Here is the main page:
Very interesting post. Who would have thought that the lowly quonset hut would be used for churches, movie theaters, and the like. Sure gets the juices flowing for building some eye-catching structures for the layout. I worked in Butler buildings back in 1960. Maximum useable space.
Chuck
Thank you Dschmidtt for finding this excellent site on quonset huts. I have been looking for this info, expecially the interior view, for a while. This is the best selection I have found.
By the way, on the general topic of metal buildings, cast iron building fronts date from the Civil War era. Here in Milwaukee we still have one magnificent example, the Iron Block Building. But the cast iron was decorative not structural.
Dave Nelson
Sorry for the lateness of my response.
The following is coming from Walthers. I wi***hey would give the dimensions, though.