Monday, February 1, 2021

Amherst’s Triangular House Gets National Attention – 1961

Did you know that a home in Amherst was featured in the October 1960 issue of American Builder, and the January 1, 1961 edition of the New York Times because of its unusual design?

The house is triangular in shape and is still located on Rainbow Drive. William E. Brandt, president of Brandt Construction, was the designer and builder.

Read all about it in the article below, which appeared in the Lorain Journal on Jan. 6, 1961.

Here’s the floor plan and a photo, courtesy of the Lorain County Auditor website.

Curious enough to drive over there and take a look? With the weather the way it is, let’s go for a convenient Google Maps drive instead.
Its good to see that the house retains its original early 60s charm.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mr Brandt and his wife Elsa both were my Sunday school teachers at one point. Extremely nice people. Rae

Anonymous said...

That house is just begging to have an early '60s Chrysler product parked in the driveway.A mighty 1960 Chrysler New Yorker 2 dr hardtop would look just perfect pulled in under the carport getting ready to go downtown shopping on a Saturday afternoon.Or maybe a '59 Imperial Southampton sitting in the garage waiting to take the proud owner to the golf course.....This house reminds me of the 1958 movie classic "No Down Payment".It was about married young couples living in a modern (for the times) neighborhood.And all the houses were modern avant-garde style ranches just like the one above...Classic Americana at its finest.

Anonymous said...

So much for the metal roof that was supposed to last an entire lifetime. It looks like they replaced it with standard shingles.

Theresa said...

I'd like to see a picture of it with the turquoise roof!

Anonymous said...

Maybe in 1961, a "lifetime" roof was considered 50 years.

Rick said...

This post brought back a lot of memories. I grew up about a five minute walk from this house on Rainbow Drive, and I remember the homes being built there. Of course my early childhood pedates Rainbow Drive. At that time, in the 1950s, the land that is now Rainbow Drive was part of the Brandt farm. The Brandt farmhouse was on the west side of Kolbe Road and there were three barns on the east side of the road where Rainbow Drive is now. The land behind the barns for some distance was cultivated fields. In the spring, after plowing, me and my friends would walk the fields searching for Native American arrowheads. The area was not far from Beaver Creek, so artifact finds were not extremely rare. However. the best artifact I ever found was in my parents garden. It was perfectly shaped and was a beautiful blue color with white mottling. Some time later I took the artifact to a program where experts were discussing artifacts and providing information about them. I remember being blown away when the expert looked at the artifact and told me that it was a side notched point from the Archaic period and was five to six thousand years old. He also told me that the flint it was fashioned from was commonly known as "Ohio Blue" and was mined in the Coshocton Ohio area. Thanks for the trip back in time!

Dan Brady said...

Thanks everybody for the comments! And Rick thanks for your usual great reminisces and insights. I remember we were always looking for arrowheads too when we were kids but didn’t find too many. We would pick up a copy of “The Arrowhead” newsletter when we were at Mill Hollow or the Brownhelm Store so arrowheads were always on our mind when we were poking around fields or in the woods.