Hobart Circle Historic District

Hobart Circle in Troy, Ohio, is a small subdivision of houses made entirely of welded steel. The Hobart brothers' Hobart Welded Steel House Co. fabricated each house of 18 gauge steel in its West Main Street factory and delivered it by truck to the site. The houses date from 1938 to 1940 and were first held as rentals by the company, then sold in the mid to late 1940s. The survey counts 21 surviving Hobart houses, with the Circle holding a notable group. Styles include Georgian Revival, Cape Cod, Dutch Colonial Revival and a rare Moderne example. Original features such as welded steel entrance hoods, circular windows and sixteen-light casement windows survive on some houses, and one lot keeps an original steel storage shed described as the only one of its style. Others have been altered with vinyl siding, replacement windows and new roofs, though the steel construction remains. Together they document an unusual local experiment in prefabricated housing.