Concrete Industries · Portland Cement Association · est. 1961

Horizon
Homesfor better living

A national competition that dared America's architects to prove concrete could be beautiful. The winning houses were built, toured, photographed, and published — then absorbed into ordinary neighborhoods and largely forgotten. This is an effort to find them again.

82
Model homes opened
in one week, Sept 1961
47
Located & documented
in this register
20
States with a
confirmed home
1961 Horizon Home designed by Robert Des Lauriers, Clairemont Mesa, San Diego
Clairemont Mesa · San DiegoR. Des Lauriers · 1961
01The Program

An industry made a case for its own material.

In the early 1960s the Portland Cement Association set out to change how Americans saw concrete — not as the stuff of overpasses and warehouses, but as the foundation for the most forward-looking houses in the country.

Each year the program offered prize money to architects who designed homes built primarily from concrete and masonry. Winning designs were constructed, opened to the public during National Home Week, photographed by the era's leading architectural photographers, and published in the country's most widely read shelter magazines.

The response was immediate. During the first week alone, two million people toured 82 model Horizon Homes, sixteen architects and builders took home design and merchandising awards, and more than five hundred reproductions were ordered before the opening weekend was over.

San Jose: Kirk Road at Willow Creek Dr., Willow Glen — Builder: Joseph B. Cirone · Architect: Warren Gilbert House & Garden · October 1961 · Vol. 120, No. 1  /  Better Homes & Gardens · October 1961
Portland Cement Assoc. National Ready-Mixed Concrete National Concrete Masonry Prestressed Concrete Institute Asbestos Cement Products
02Case Study · California

A Horizon Home in Willow Glen.

2810 La Rhee Drive is a confirmed 1961 Horizon Home — listed in two national publications, designed by Warren Gilbert AIA, built by San Jose developer Joseph B. Cirone, on land surveyed by Mark Thomas & Co. in August 1960. It survives original and largely untouched. A City Landmark designation and Mills Act application are underway.

2810 La Rhee Drive · San Jose
Willow Creek Ranch · Tract No. 1944 · Kirk Bros Subdivision · Lot 39
Original & Intact
Architect
Warren Gilbert, AIA
Warren Gilbert Associates · 1550 The Alameda, San Jose · Lic. AX001943L
Builder
Joseph B. Cirone
San Jose developer · namesake of Cirone Way
Civil Engineer
Mark Thomas & Co.
Founded 1927 · surveyed the tract, Aug 1960 · still operating
Published
House & Garden
Vol. 120, No. 1 · October 1961
Also Published
Better Homes & Gardens
October 1961
Status
Designation underway
City Landmark + Mills Act in progress
Street facade of 2810 La Rhee Drive, San Jose
2810 La Rhee Drive · street elevationWillow Glen · San Jose
Living room with original stone fireplace and courtyard beyond
Living room · stone hearthorig. courtyard
Living room with sculptural plaster fireplace and sliding glass to patio
Living room · plaster hoodpost-and-beam
04National Register · In Progress

Located, one house at a time.

Roughly eighty-two homes opened in the first week of 1961, and the program ran on for years after. This is the running list of the ones that have been found again. It is deliberately incomplete — every state below is missing entries, and whole states are missing entirely.

47 located and many more built, still unfound
Location
Architect / Builder
Year
State
Located & documented Listed, location unconfirmed ▌ Featured case study
05Preservation

Why these houses are worth finding.

These were not speculative tract houses. They were an industry's best argument for its own material, commissioned from architects doing the most ambitious work of their careers.

Most were built once, opened for a week, and quietly folded into American neighborhoods with no institutional recognition. That makes them easy to lose — and easy to tear down by owners who never learn what they have.

In 2025 the San Diego home at 2726 Angell Avenue completed a full historic designation, the first detailed research template for the program. The same framework applies to every home in the register.