Vasel & Pavia Avenues
Affton, MO
This is the cutest damn thing I’ve seen all year! It reminds me of a Liddle Kiddles playhouse!
I love Quonsets. Love saying the word, love spotting them across the American landscape (especially the double or triple runs), love the way they look and love how endlessly adaptable and durable they have proven to be.
The Quonsets usually get repurposed as utility or storage buildings, in both urban and rural areas. This is the first time I’ve seen one repurposed as a cottage… and in Affton of all places. That’s just The Best!
But the St. Louis County property records feel a bit intolerant about this Quonset house. Their records show it’s from 1947, 756 s.f. with two bedrooms and a full basement. And then they list the style as Colonial.
Yes, Colonial.
As if giving it another name will erase its essence?
Never. The Quonset will not be denied. All hail the Affton Quonset House!
RELATED
Mascoutah, IL Quonset
“Colonial”!!
I want one!
All that for the price of war surplus and the alterations. Not bad. And, no, Quonsets did not have basements, or bunkers/bomb shelters. I think most of the Quonsets were deployed in the Pacific theater during WWII, due to the lack of structures on the various islands and atolls taken–with great cost to human life, both American and Japanese–during the island-hopping campaign. They were supposed to be temporary, but as with most mil-spec, they were probably a little over-built. Hence their longevity.
What I love is how neat and trim it is. (Though it needs some landscaping help.) From the photos, it also looks as though the small additions have been done with an eye to quality and the whimsy of the building. But it even has a basement! Aren’t quonsets usually temporary buildings and do they have basements as a rule? I wonder what the story is?
LOVE IT!!!!