Leisurama

One of the more than 200 Leisurama homes at Culloden Point

Leisurama is a development of vacation homes in Montauk, New York, that was constructed between 1963 and 1965 following the developer's success with a model home at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow.

Some of the Leisurama homes were exhibited at the 1964 New York World's Fair, and the development was subject of a 2005 documentary, titled "Leisurama", broadcast by PBS.

Background

In 1959, Andrew Geller, vice president of the Housing and Home Components department at Loewy/Snaith, supervised the design for the exhibition, the "Typical American House," built at the American National Exhibition in Moscow. The exhibition home largely replicated a home previously built at 398 Townline Road in Commack, New York, which had been originally designed by Stanley H. Klein for a Long Island-based firm, All-State Properties (later known as Sadkin enterprises), headed by developer Herbert Sadkin. To accommodate visitors to the exhibition, Sadkin hired Loewy's office to modify Klein's floor plan. Geller supervised the work, which "split" the house, creating a way for large numbers of visitors to tour the small house and giving rise to its nickname, Splitnik.

See: Geller's "split" home at the American National Exhibition

See: 398 Townline Road, Commack, New York, designed by Stanley H. Klein

40°51′40.02″N 73°17′25.77″E

Subsequently, Richard Nixon (then Vice President) and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev on July 24, 1959 began what became known as the Kitchen Debate — a debate over the merits of capitalism vs. socialism, with Khrushchev saying Americans could not afford the luxury represented by the "Typical American House". Tass, the Soviet news agency said: "There is no more truth in showing this as the typical home of the American worker than, say, in showing the Taj Mahal as the typical home of a Bombay textile worker."

Macy's

The temporary 'Typical American House' exhibit was demolished, and the developer hired William Safire as the company's marketing agent. All-State later hired Geller to design the homes, marketed at Macy's and built on Long Island — leveraging the press coverage from the Russian exhibition.

Visitors to Macy's could view and purchase an entire home — down to and including a 45 piece, eight place setting of Melmac dishware — which was displayed on the 9th floor at the store's central New York location. The houses were marketed aggressively, and Herbert Sadkin's All-State Properties (later Sadkin Enterprises) — built approximately 200 of the homes in a development called Culloden Point (variously described as Culloden Shores) in Montauk, New York in 1963 and 1964. All-State went on develop Leisurama homes in an area near Fort Lauderdale, which grew into the city of Lauderhill.

In 2003, The New York Times described the Macy's homes:

"The package deal included a 730- to 1,200-square-foot house on a 75-by-100-foot lot, as well as state-of-the art appliances, furniture, housewares and everything else a family would need for a weekend in the sun, including toothbrushes and toilet paper. The cost was roughly $13,000 to $17,000."

See: Outline specifications for the Leisurama homes

See: List of home contents furnished with the Leisurama homes

Further reading

• Gordon, Alastair, Weekend Utopia: Modern Living in the Hamptons, New York : Princeton Architectural Press, 2001. ISBN 9781568982724
• Sahre, Paul, Leisurama now : the beach house for everyone (1964-), New York : Princeton Architectural Press, 2008. ISBN 9781568987095
• Popular Mechanics, November 1962 issue, advertisement on page 231.

See also

• Lustron house

External links

• Leisurama documentary
• Designboom article on housing
• Leisurama South in Florida