This 1956 Spartan Executive Mansion is Iconic

This 1956 Spartan Executive Mansion is charming and cozy and the true tiny house.

Being environmentally friendly and affordable should get tiny house fans to take a second look at mobile homes. Unfortunately, mobile homes have a nasty stigma hanging on to them and that may be too much for those that are only interested in appearances.

That’s not the case with Raymond and Colleen. This couple took the tiny house lifestyle seriously and live a simple, affordable, and extremely environmentally friendly lifestyle in their retro-fabulous 1956 Spartan Executive Mansion.

Original 1956 Spartan Executive Mansion

It’s no secret that Spartans Trailers are my all-time favorite vintage mobile homes. I have a thing for aluminum, apparently.

Spartans rose from the ashes of an old aircraft factory in Tulsa, OK after WWII. Without the large government orders, the factory couldn’t stay in business much longer and needed to expand their offerings without spending a ton of money. There had to be another product that used the same materials they had on hand – lightweight and rust-proof aluminum.

During the war, an executive had attended a supplier’s conference and met a factory-owner from Indiana that was building trailer homes and campers for the government. The chance meeting helped spark the idea that an airplane builder could become a trailer builder.

The owners of Spartan wasn’t going to build just any kind of trailer. There were plenty of cheap trailer builders already. What was going to set Spartan apart from the competition was the quality of their homes They would be true mobile mansions.

With the materials on hand and just a little re-tooling, the factory began manufacturing what would later be one of the most iconic mobile homes every made.

One of their finest examples of remodeled vintage mobile homes is this 1956 Spartan Executive Mansion owned by Raymond and Colleen.

Birch paneling is one of the many things that sets Spartans apart from the other trailers of their time. The paneling went through extensive auditing so that only most uniform sheets were installed.

See another great Spartan: The Shabby-Chic Spartan

1956 Spartan Executive Mansion Kitchen

Raymond and Colleen apparently own several vintage mobile homes, a 1951 Spartan is mentioned in the comments by Colleen. She uses it as her sewing studio! I’m sure by owning several they know exactly where to put their money on the remodeling. Here’s Raymond’s description from the feature on Tiny House Blog:

“This view of the kitchen (above) shows the meat of the remodel (aside from removing all of the bulkheads forwards); laminate floor from the bathroom door forward, tile aft, with electric heat under the kitchen, bath, and bedroom.

“The original 24″ stove top and it’s associated cabinets were removed and a modern 30″range placed and I built a side-board that encloses our garbage/recycle with a narrow cabinet with that we don’t want cluttering up the kitchen counter.

“The wall oven is slated to go so that we can have a high-efficiency dishwasher in that location. The counter-tops are Granite and I managed to get the Formica up in one piece, eliminating most of the metal strips that usually support these panels.

The article goes on to mention that they replace the window facings with yellow cedar and had a talented stone cutter cut 5 pieces of black granite.

This An Unbelievable 1959 Spartan Imperial Mansion is awesome!

This Spartan Executive Mansion is another great example of how a mobile home can change with a few updates.

Flooring and counters are popular mobile home makeover projects because they make the most impact.

This Spartan has a homey, comfortable vibe that makes me just want to cozy up to a good book on a rainy day and enjoy every single minute of it. Perhaps, half as cozy as the dog looks.
Can’t get enough of these awesome Spartans? Here are some more great articles!

See another gorgeous Spartan: Complete Restoration: ’51 Spartan Imperial Mansion

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