What's a Quonset Hut?

While watching any war movie or riding by your local armory, you’ve probably seen one of these corrugated metal structures. Named for the place they were originally manufactured during WWII―Quonset Point, Rhode Island―the huts could easily be shipped anywhere and put together by unskilled labor.

The original 25- x 48-foot structure was erected by a local WWII veteran who had grown accustomed to makeshift living during the war. For the next 40 years, the hut saw numerous inhabitants come and go. When the Fredericks bought the property, the enclosure (as pictured here) contained three bedrooms, a tiny kitchen, a pecky cypress great room, and two baths.