Eggiman House

Ernest Eggiman and his wife, Helen, lived in the Motohome on S. Shore Drive in 1940, according to the census records. They owned their home, which was valued at $7,500 in 1940. Mr. Eggiman appeared in the Madison city directory as early as 1927, living on E. Main Street; he was still living there, according to the 1937 city directory. The address was correct by the 1939 directory, with the couple on S. Shore Drive.

Mr. Eggiman was born in Switzerland around 1903 and was not a U.S. citizen. Mrs. Eggiman was a Wisconsin native born around 1906. Mr. Eggiman completed four years of high school and worked as a salesman for International Harvester. Mrs. Eggiman completed the eighth grade and was not employed. By 1950, Mr. Eggiman was President of Eggiman Motors and Equipment Sales, Inc. on S. Park. The couple still lived in the Motohome in 1960 and Mr. Eggiman was head of the same company.

The Motohome was promoted in the mid-1930s as the affordable house of the future. Robert McLaughlin Jr. and American Houses, Inc. developed a prototype of the prefabricated home in 1932. By 1935 the house was in full production, with the help of General Electric and American Radiator. A company brochure touted American Motohome as the "prefabricated house that comes complete with food in the kitchen" and the only homes "planned, designed, and engineered entirely from the woman's point of view." Since "women dislike technical subjects" (ouch!) the 1935 brochure described what the houses were made of "briefly but adequately." Central air conditioning, a dishwasher, clothes washer, and a thermostat in the master bedroom were among the standard features, as well as a toaster, percolator, and a library of how-to books. Furniture was not included. Color was incorporated into the house's interior and exterior so no painting was needed.

The home's marvels of science promised to "remove drudgery from the home and lengthen the hours for leisure and culture." The prefabricated parts were manufactured in various U.S. factories, shipped by rail or boat to distribution depots, and shipped by truck to the building lot. Then they were assembled by local labor under the supervision of an expert superintendent from American Houses, Inc. Since the last production year was 1936, the Eggiman House may be one of the last Motohomes built; it was the fifty-fourth Motohome sold. There were fifteen variations of the Motohome; 140 different plans were possible by bolting together the modular units. The Eggiman House is made up of steel-framed cubes and walls of asbestos concrete panels (under the trade name Pyrestos) with aluminum strips covering vertical joints. Casement windows wrap around corners.

When the original garage cube was converted into living space, a detached two-car garage was added at the northwest corner of the lot in the 1950s, in wood frame with a flat roof. The Eggiman House is significant in areas of architecture, engineering and industry. The Motohome was an attempt to industrialize housing production during the Great Depression. The house is an excellent example of the International Style of architecture.

Draeger, Jim. NRHP Nomination of Eggiman, Ernest, House. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1993.

R.H. White Company. American Motohome by American Houses, Inc.. Boston, MA. American Houses, Inc., 1935.

U.S. Census. Household of Ernest Eggiman at 857 S. Shore Dr., Madison District 13-53A, WI, Dwelling 11. Washington, DC. U.S. Government, 1940.

Weisiger, Marsha et al.. Ernest and Helen Eggiman House (Motohome), Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) Archipedia. Accessed November 3rd 2020. https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/WI-01-DA35.

Wisconsin Historical Society. National or State Registers Record, 857 S. Shore Drive, National or State Register of Historic Places. Accessed November 7th 2020. https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/NationalRegister/NR2048.

Wright Directory Co.. Wright's Madison Wisconsin City Directory 1927. Volume XIX. Milwaukee, WI. Wright Directory Co., 1927.

Wright Directory Co.. Wright's Madison (Dane County, Wis.) City Directory 1937. Milwaukee, WI. Wright Directory Co., 1937.

Wright Directory Co.. Wright's Madison (Dane County, Wis.) City Directory 1939. Milwaukee, WI. Wright Directory Co., 1939.

Wright Directory Co.. Wright's Madison (Dane County, Wis.) City Directory 1950. Milwaukee, WI. Wright Directory Co., 1950.

Wright Directory Co.. Wright's Madison (Dane County, Wis.) City Directory 1960. Milwaukee, WI. Wright Directory Co., 1961.