1938 – Wheeler Corporation Builds New Jersey’s First Steel Framed Concrete Stucco Home in Basking Ridge

“In 1938, the developer promoted the project as a “home of the future,” using a combination of structural steel and poured concrete to create a frame that was stronger and more durable than conventional construction.”

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As part of the Bernardsville News history retrospective, this piece was recently reported to have occurred 75 years ago. Based on the original article posted on June 30, 1938, there appears to be some truth to the story. The question remains: Is the house in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, the state’s first steel-frame house? Yes, it is.

In 1938, the Wheeler Corporation made headlines across Somerset County when it began construction on what was hailed as New Jersey’s first steel-framed concrete home, located on West Oak Street in Basking Ridge. At a time when most houses were built of wood or brick, Wheeler sought to showcase a modern, fire-resistant alternative that reflected the optimism of the late Depression era. The company promoted the project as a “home of the future,” using a combination of structural steel and poured concrete to create a frame that was stronger and more durable than conventional construction. Local newspapers described the project as experimental yet forward-thinking, positioning Basking Ridge as an unlikely stage for architectural innovation in residential design.

While little is known about Wheeler Corporation’s other projects, the 1938 Oak Street home stood as a testament to the period’s fascination with modern materials and industrial efficiency. Steel producers, such as Great Lakes Steel, were encouraging developers to adopt their light-gauge Stran Steel framing systems, and Wheeler appeared eager to participate in this movement. The result was a house that blended the look of a traditional suburban residence with the guts of a factory-built structure, a rare hybrid for its time. More than eight decades later, the home still stands, a quiet reminder of when Basking Ridge briefly found itself at the forefront of America’s early experiments in steel-framed housing.

STEEL FRAME HOUSE OPEN TO INSPECTION AT OAK STREET

“What is believed to be the first steel frame house in New Jersey” was now under construction by the Wheeler Corporation on its new 60-acre development along West Oak Street in Bernards Township, The News reported on Thursday, June 30, 1938. The framework for the two-bedroom, one-and-a-half-story house “was started yesterday” and will be completed by Friday evening, when it “will be open to public inspection,” the story said. The house will be practically fireproof throughout,” it added.

An advertisement said floors, walls, and roof would be constructed of Stran Steel framing, which offers “strength, rigidity, durability, termite proof construction, fire safety, and long life with freedom from plaster cracks, warping or shrinking of the framework and low maintenance costs.”

I love when they say in the ad “Nailable Steel Framing” because I know one thing for sure, you better bring a magnet to check for these beams because if you try to put a nail in and there’s one of those beams there, it’ll almost break your hammer!

Brooks Betz, current owner of the Steel Framed house on Oak Streeet in Basking Ridge.

Year	Event	Details
1935–1936	Bernards Plateau subdivision established	Wheeler Corporation begins development of Decker Farm tract.
Aug 6, 1936	Gray family moves to Bernards Plateau	Newspaper reports James W. and Beatrice Gray relocate from Summit to Bernards Plateau — among the earliest residents on the Oak Commons section of the development.
1938	Model home built	“1938” brass year on chimney — structure completed by Wheeler Corporation.
Dec 7, 1939	Deed from Croot & Gutleber to Grays (unrecorded)	First private ownership transfer noted in later deed.
Feb 29, 1940 / recorded Mar 12, 1940	Restrictive covenant & reconveyance	James W. & Beatrice K. Gray to Croot & Gutleber Inc. — same record confirmed by newspaper, March 31, 1940.

Side Story:
Bernards Plateau – Bernards Commons / Oak Commons & the Wheeler Corporation
and the Decker Street Conceptual Designs

The Bernards Plateau was named for the broad upland west of the Basking Ridge village center, just across Route 287 today, a table of former pasture and orchard that drew early farm families with good soils and open exposures. By the early twentieth century, the Decker family held a large portion of this ground and worked it as a traditional mixed farm, with lanes that later became neighborhood streets. Local historians note that the plateau’s name stuck in common use as the area shifted from agriculture to planned housing.

In 1939, Carl G Decker sold the plateau tract to the Wheeler Corporation, a transfer that set the stage for subdivision along West Oak Street and a wave of modern residential building. Contemporary street name histories explicitly record the sale, and later local write-ups tie the Wheeler development to the nearby steel-framed demonstration house, which helped mark the end of the Decker farm era on the plateau.

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