An historic steel home in Troy was destroyed by fire, and six animals inside died.
Flames broke out Monday evening at a home in the first block of Hobart Circle in Troy. The steel home was built by the Hobart Brothers between 1935 and 1941 — at a cost of $5,000.
Fire officials say an electrical space heater was accidentally left on in a bedroom.
No people were home or injured in the fire, but six animals inside — three dogs and three cats — perished.
Damages are estimated at $20,000 to the steel house structure and $5,000 to the contents, officials said.
The house is one of about 22 steel houses in Troy on the national register of historic buildings.
“Being a steel structure there’s not walls like a typical home so there was a lot of heat, smoke we had to try to make sure everything was out,” said Troy fire Chief Matt Simmons.
The structure was made from welded steel and contained no nuts, bolts or nails.
The houses were an experiment in prefabrication designed to produce high quality and economical housing during the depression.
Local history archivist Patrick Kennedy said prefabricated homes made of steel though never really took off.
"Prefabricated homes started to become the future of housing, or envisioned as the future of housing, … (it) never took off in the grand scale I’m sure they were hoping it would have," Kennedy said.
