Cleveland Heights leads the way: The Kelvin House on Rumson Road was one of the first homes built in Cleveland to feature central air conditioning.

By Christopher J. Hubbert, to an advertisement, they were “homes where all President, Forest Hill Homeowners, Inc. the drudgery is eliminated—where tasks are done electrically.” On Wednesday, September 8, 1937, George W. Mason, The grand opening of the Kelvin homes was president of Nash-Kelvinator Corporation of , accompanied by much fanfare and was attended by presided over the opening ceremonies of two city officials and civic leaders. The event was heralded “Kelvin Homes,” one at 3202 Rumson Road in by a flurry of articles and advertisements in the Forest Hill and the other at 21361 Stratford Avenue Cleveland Plain Dealer, Cleveland Press and Cleveland in the Beach Cliff neighborhood of Rocky River. The News. Various contractors and decorators trumpeted Kelvin homes were the first homes built in Cleveland their involvement in the project. The Second Federal with central air conditioning. They also featured Savings and Loan Association got into the act by “the latest discoveries and achievements of housing running an ad touting its mortgage services with the science,” including an electric Kelvinator range, tagline “Comfort in your financing, too” with a drawing , washing machine and ironer. According continued on next page

SPRING 2006 WWW.CHHISTORY.ORG 5 development and Jones was forced to defend the choices of his architect. In his response, Staley indicates that Rockefeller preferred the garage to be hidden continued from page 5 behind the house instead of being a prominent element of the Forest Hill Kelvin home. The Rudolph Wurlitzer of the front elevation. Interestingly, he also notes that Company installed a new “Butterfly” piano in both homes Rockefeller’s sons Nelson and Laurance, perhaps with and their playing was featured on the “Kelvin Home more contemporary taste, did not agree with their father. Radio Show” on WGAR on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. The dedication ceremonies were broadcast The Story of Kelvinator as well. After the ceremonies were completed, Mason In 1914, Nathaniel B. Wales, a young inventor, began spoke at a luncheon held at the Advertising Club. developing refrigerating mechanisms for home instal- The homes were designed by Detroit architect lation. In 1916, Wales, with the financial backing of J. Ivan Dise and built by Oil Heating Devices, Inc., Arnold H. Goss, then secretary of the Automobile Kelvinator’s local distribution agent. In an interview Company, formed the Electro-Automatic Refrigerating in the Cleveland News, the president of Oil Heating Company in Detroit, Michigan, becoming the first Devices, W. R. Kromer, claimed that because of the company to produce an automatic refrigerator for the high efficiency cooling unit, the cost of year-round household market. Almost immediately, the firm’s name comfort in the “specially-designed” was changed to the Kelvinator Company Kelvin home would in many cases in honor of the British physicist who be less than only the cost of heating originated the absolute temperature a comparable residence. Kromer scale (measured in kelvins). predicted “universal acceptance of By 1923, the Kelvinator residential air conditioning in the Company held 80 percent of the near future.” market for electric . The Kelvin home in Forest Hill In 1926, Kelvinator acquired the is in some sense a result of the failure Leonard Refrigerator Company, a of John D. Rockefeller, Jr.’s, original plan for the Grand Rapids, Michigan, manufacturer of cleanable development. When Andrew J. Thomas’ French ice-box cabinets. That same year the company acquired Norman homes on Brewster Road and adjacent streets Nizer Corporation, the largest maker of ice-cream cabi- failed to sell, Charles O. Heydt, Rockefeller’s trusted nets. George W. Mason joined Kelvinator as president advisor and president of Abeyton Realty Corporation, in 1928. Although only 37, Mason already had an and James C. Jones, manager of the Forest Hill impressive record with and Copeland Products. allotment, explored innovations in home building to In 1937, Kelvinator merged with Nash Motor attract attention to the development. The results of their Company, forming Nash-Kelvinator Corporation. Mason efforts include the five Arcy Corporation steel frame served as the president of the joint operation. As a homes on Monticello Boulevard and one of the first air division of Nash-Kelvinator, Kelvinator continued to grow, conditioned homes in Cleveland being built on Rumson. expanding into making condensers and compressors Despite all the hype, the Kelvin home did not sell for manufacturers of other makes of refrigerators, immediately (perhaps due to its proximity to Dean Dairy freezers, and air conditioning units. The company’s on Mayfield at what is now U-Haul) and was rented household product line was supplemented by electric out like many other Rockefeller homes. In an October ranges, water heaters, home freezers, room air 1938 letter to Frank S. Staley, who worked closely conditioners, kitchen cabinets, sinks, kitchen waste with Heydt on real estate matters for Rockefeller, disposers, and in 1952 a complete line of home Jones states that the architectural design of the “Kelvin laundry equipment acquired through the purchase house was only accepted after numerous allowances of Altorfer Bros. Company (ABC), of Peoria, Illinois. were made for the location.” It appears that Rockefeller Kelvinator was purchased by White Consolidated did not care for the newer homes being built in the Industries in 1968, and subsequently became part of

6 WWW.CHHISTORY.ORG SPRING 2006 the Group in 1986. Today, Kelvinator con- furniture, with wooden cabinets and decorative tinues to offer an assortment of household appliances. grillwork. Room air conditioners were more common than whole-house systems that were generally too A Brief History expensive for the average homeowner to install in of Domestic Air Conditioning an existing home. Mechanical refrigeration was developed in the first half After World War II air conditioning became of the 19th century and was often employed to manu- increasingly affordable. The popularity of whole-house facture ice as an alternative to natural ice harvested air conditioning allowed new forms of domestic archi- from frozen lakes and rivers. Refrigeration machinery tecture, unencumbered by the constraints imposed by was bulky and expensive, natural cooling, primarily limiting its use initially to shade and ventilation. commercial applications. The Post-war homes could be first domestic application of low slung ranches with mechanical cooling technol- large expanses of sealed ogy was food refrigeration. glass. The availability of Early in-home refrigerators domestic air conditioning were cooled by blocks of ice has even influenced where and although mechanically we choose to live, fueling cooled refrigerators were the population growth in available to homeowners as the warm climates of the early as the 1890s, they did south and west. H not become widespread until the 1920s when the tech- Author’s Note nology had become less I would like to thank expensive and more reliable. Kenneth W. Rose of the It wasn’t long before Rockefeller Archive refrigeration equipment was Center for alerting me to adapted to comfort cooling, the presence of the Kelvin or air conditioning.1 Once home in Forest Hill and again, early air conditioning Tony Evans of Electrolux systems were expensive and for providing Kelvinator’s initially were limited to history. To learn more commercial uses such as about the history of air factories and food processing conditioning, please visit plants. These first air con- the website of the ditioners were primarily water cooled, requiring American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and plumbing connections and a sewer hookup. Most Air-Conditioning Engineers at ASHRAE.org. existing homes of the era also required additional Sleeping Soundly on Summer Nights, by Mike ducting for air distribution and upgraded electrical Pauken, P.E. (ASHRAE Journal, May 1999), was service before air conditioning could be installed. the source of much of the information in this article Home air conditioning was a luxury that few could regarding air conditioning. afford and most people first experienced comfort cooling in theaters.2 1 Stuart W. Cramer coined the term “air conditioning” in In the late 1920s and early 1930s several 1906 to describe mechanically controlling the temperature companies introduced console-style room air condi- and humidity of interior air. tioners, followed shortly by window units. The early 2 The first documented theater to be air conditioned was the portable room air conditioners were built like fine New Empire Theatre in Montgomery, Alabama in 1917.

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