The Henry B. Neef House is located in the Minne Lusa

Minne Lusa

The Minne Lusa neighborhood is located in North Omaha, Nebraska between Vane Street and Read Street on the north and Redick Avenue on the south; North 24th Street on the east and North 30th Street on the west...

 neighborhood of North

North Omaha, Nebraska

North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, USA. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the east, as defined by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha...

 Omaha

Omaha

Omaha may refer to:*Omaha , a Native American tribe that currently resides in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Nebraska-Places:United States* Omaha, Nebraska* Omaha, Arkansas* Omaha, Georgia* Omaha, Illinois* Omaha, Texas...

, Nebraska

Nebraska

Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....

. Every original home in Minne Lusa was built with a garage. The Neef House was the first steel-frame house in the neighborhood, and was a pioneering construction style in Nebraska.

It was built in 1929 by Henry Neef. According to the National Park Service:

In the late 1920s, the concept of the “all-steel house” swept across the nation from Richard Tappan’s Jamaica-Hillside development in New York to Richard Nuetra (sic)

Richard Neutra

Richard Joseph Neutra is considered one of modernism's most important architects.- Biography :Neutra was born in Leopoldstadt, the 2nd district of Vienna, Austria Hungary, on April 8, 1892. He was born into both-Jewish wealthy family...

’s Lovell Health House in the Hollywood Hills, and even to Omaha, Nebraska, where the Henry B. Neef House stands as the best, and perhaps only, property in Nebraska that is associated with the rise of the “steel house” between 1926 and 1933. While ultimately finding only limited success, there is little doubt that the concept of the steel house played a significant role in how Americans imagined how their future during the boundless optimism of the late 1920s and into the uncertainty of the Great Depression. The strength of steel, used in industrial applications, was unmatched by any other alloy, and some architects and steel companies decided to put into practice what they saw as the next advance in residential architecture, replacing wood, although when put into practice, the steel framework was hidden under brick and stucco veneers and period revival forms. The house was completed in 1929. The house, with a concrete block foundation and brick and stucco walls, still retains excellent historic integrity today.

The building was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on September 16, 2010. The listing was announced as the featured listing in the National Park Service

National Park Service

The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...

's weekly list of September 24, 2010.