Children's Museum of Oak Ridge

In 2025, I was hired by the Children's Museum of Oak Ridge to oversee the restoration, furnishing, and interpretation of a Manhattan Project B-1 "Flattop" House used for staff housing in the "Secret City" of Oak Ridge, TN.

Research

The project started with in-depthresearch, which was used to direct the the restoration project. Through this, I was able to find previously unknown details about the Oak Ridge Flattop houses and their construction.

Prior to this project, it was not widely known that the Flattop Houses in Oak Ridge were originally designed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) for use at dam construction projects during the great depression. The images above from the National Archives show the design drafts for the B-1 (two bedroom) prefabricated house, the same model as the house at the museum.

There were originally three different designs for TVA Flattop houses: the A-6 (one-bedroom), B-1 (two-bedroom), C-1 (three-bedroom). All three were used in Oak Ridge, in addition to two new designs.

Flooring

One of the biggest challenges of this project was finding the best modern flooring option to approximate the original. I was able to determine that the original flooring was a sheet linoleum product that was laid out in 6ft wide rolls. This product had long been discontinued, so we decided on a vinyl composition tile that approximated the original color.

Furnishing Plan

Another major aspect of this project was developing a furnishing plan and sourcing original and period correct furniture.

Completed Restoration

These photos show the Flattop House in mid-2025. The final placement of items was completed after I moved to North Dakota in May 2025.