Small. Distinctive.

Yep, that's my version of a "Barbie dream house."

Exterior view of a small, blue house with a green entrance railing, surrounded by a garden with colorful flowers and decorative items. There is a small shed to the right and trees in the background.

I'm obsessed.

These are "chicken coop houses," as they're colloquially known where I come from, in rural Iowa, near the town where these little wonders were produced in the 1920s–1950s as part of one company's enterprising foray into the manufacturing and distribution of prefabricated buildings through a network of regional “Builder-Dealers.”

Image of Kozy Manufacturing in Exira Iowa from an old advertising brochure

People who live near them know of them instantly. They're polka-dotted across the Midwest — and who knows how much farther. They were shipped all over the continent.

They've never been formally documented or studied.

Until now.

OVERLOOKED UNDERDOGS, NO MORE

The back of a light blue house with a gabled roof, surrounded by trees with green leaves. Piles of trash and household items are placed outside near the house, including bags of trash, boxes, and a child's chair.

It’s time for these Kozy Homes to have their moment.

A small white house with two large front windows, a central door, and steps leading up to it. Surrounded by green grass and trees, with a black planter and a sign on the lawn.

A small, weathered house with peeling beige siding, black shutters, a white door, and a small porch with steps. The house is flanked by a lawn and trees.

Small beige house with a curved roof, two small windows with white shutters, an air conditioning unit, and a white door with steps, surrounded by green trees and grass.

A beige house with white trim, a small front porch, and a brown shingled roof. Two front windows, a door with a small window, and decorative outdoor items in the yard. Green trees in the background.

Fan Club President

A woman with long blonde hair, wearing glasses and a beige jacket over a pink shirt, sitting in a room with wooden ceilings and modern furniture. She has a thoughtful expression and is touching her collar.

I'm Nicky, and I'm embarking on a journey to find, document, and study a particular home design that has an undersized fan club.

I have street cred as a communications professional (LinkedIn, neglected portfolio site), but my imposter syndrome is after those real, scholarly, full-word credentials. I've generously been admitted to the MS in Architecture program at Iowa State University to get to nerd-out over this passion project of mine, which (here is where I, as a millennial, continue to demonstrate the syntax AI stole from us) spans local and agricultural history, design, rural sociology, historic preservation, vernacular architecture, and good old-fashioned ingenuity.

If any of those topic areas increased your heart rate, keep reading and checking back, kindred spirit.

Field Notes

Where to begin

Three generations of Thomas Godwins from Exira, Iowa, have tended a dream started by the entrepreneurial patriarch, Thomas Harry Godwin, a WWI veteran, parachute harness inventor, and, as reported by the Jefferson City Daily Capital News on June 8, 1919, "a fine specimen of American manhood."

He and a business partner built the indispensable hardware of the day: wagons, hog houses, and chicken coops under the name G.F. Manufacturing Co.

An old newspaper advertisement for Kozy Brooder House, claiming it saves money by raising chickens efficiently. It features an illustration of a chicken coop and emphasizes the affordability of purchasing the entire setup compared to buying lumber.

Iowa farmers had been under pressure since the early 1920s. When the broader economy collapsed in the 1930s, Godwin pivoted hard into people-housing. They produced a variety of prefab and custom home designs into the 1960s.

The company eventually became Kozy Manufacturing Company over the decades, but this product, the place, and the family behind it stayed the same.

A red and white advertisement for G.F. Wagon Boxes, featuring illustrations of single and double panel wagons with specifications for length, width, and height.

Yes, for real.

An advertisement for KOZY Brooder House models, illustrating various designs and features of different types of brooder houses and small buildings for poultry farming.

These houses began as chicken coops.

There is a kernel of truth in that derogatory, “chicken coop house” moniker.

BUT . . .

How did people end up living in repurposed chicken coops?

Who bought them, where, and why?

Why do they look like that?

What was it like living in them?

What does any of it have to say about where rural America goes from here?

And what did the neighbors think?

Stay tuned.

Look forward to architectural details, more vintage advertising brochures, a database and map of existing structures, and perhaps a great treasure hunt to locate the rest.

Field Notes