Prefab pioneer folds
Court receiver takes over Empyrean after financial woes close the Acton-based builder
One of the granddaddies of the prefab home business is boarded up.
Empyrean International, the Acton-based builder of Deck House, Acorn Homes, and most recently Dwell homes, abruptly closed in late October, laying off workers and padlocking the gates to its plant. Two weeks ago, a court-ordered receiver took control of the company.
Patrick Gilrane, the chief executive and principal owner of Empyrean, said the business was brought down by the collapse of the financial sector, including the failure of investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., and the rapidly deteriorating economy.
"This really hit us around September 15th, when Lehman went bankrupt, and we had clients postpone and cancel orders," he said.
He had hoped to restructure the company and be operational again early next year, but instead, the company is now in receivership after Stoneham Savings Bank sought repayment of $7 million it loaned Empyrean over the past year. The home builder has defaulted on that loan, and has not paid its utility bills or taxes for months, according to a complaint the bank filed in Suffolk Superior Court. Creditors have filed at least three lawsuits.
The receiver, attorney Stewart Grossman, said that once he takes care of pressing matters, such as assembling records, he will put the company up for sale.
"My goal is to sell the company as a going concern, and in order to do that, I need to make sure the place is still functional," Grossman said.
It is a sad and stunning turn for a firm that helped popularize a modern-postwar style by delivering high quality versions of it to the masses. Though found around the United States and in Europe, the company's homes were particularly prevalent in Boston's western suburbs. In Carlisle, for example, entire roads are lined with the company's signature product, Deck Houses, with their distinctive wood paneling, large decks, and expansive windows.
Empyrean's roots go back to 1947, with the founding of Acorn Structures by John Bemis, a tinkerer who studied architecture and building construction at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after graduating from Harvard College. He and his collaborator, architect Carl Koch, noodled through various efforts at affordable manufactured homes as the postwar building boom took off.
A Life magazine story in 1974 described the arrival of an Acorn house in an article titled Unfolding House: "Inside are walls, roof, partitions, bath, kitchen and one of the new Jet-Heet furnaces. Once at the building site, the box unfolds on giant hinges to become, in the space of a few hours, a complete house 23 by 35 feet."
Newer versions of Acorn homes use traditional features on the exterior - peaked gables and classic porches were common elements - but deviate inside with a soaring interior that has since been copied by contemporary home builders.
Deck Houses, meanwhile, have a related aesthetic, but have a more natural style than Acorn.
Deck House was started in 1959 by William Berkes, a graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and disciple of Bauhaus school of design founder Walter Gropius. Pre-engineered and designed to fit within their natural landscape, Deck Houses use wood finishes, copious amounts of glass, and post-and-beam construction to create soaring structures.
The two companies merged in 1995, and in 2003 Gilrane bought the merged entity through a holding company, renaming it Empyrean. The company estimates over the years it has built more than 20,000 homes, as far away as Israel and South Korea.
Empyrean began its partnership with Dwell magazine in 2005, and the homes they designed and built were more modernist than the other two lines - boxy, more angular, and visually more reminiscent of the kind of homes Gropius's contemporaries and his students turned out in the last century.
Empyrean's closure came as a surprise to Dwell magazine, where publisher and president Michela O'Connor Abrams said she only learned of it a few weeks ago. O'Connor insisted Dwell will find new builders for its prefab homes.
"In late January or early February we will announce new partnerships," she said. "We will continue with the Dwell homes collection. It will be business as usual, without this manufacturer."
Amy Goodwin owns the first Dwell home built by Empyrean, a glass and gray-paneled rectangular structure overlooking cow fields in Lincoln. She praised the personal commitment of Gilrane. "Patrick would come over during construction," she said.
Now, Goodwin is concerned about problems that may occur down the line, considering that she has a 10-year warranty with Empyrean.
Also worried about future maintenance is J.J. Supple, a local contractor who has worked on many Deck Houses, because the structures require specialized components, from windows to doorknobs.
"You can't just go to a lumber yard. It's like trying to make a different product fit with Legos," he said. "You really need their components and someone with knowledge in the assembly of those components. Otherwise you'll most likely encounter problems, such as leaks or structural deficiencies."
Becky Shannon of Concord responded to a fall promotion from Empyrean by putting down nearly $14,000 for a set of doors to her Deck House. She said she hasn't been able to get a response from the company, and has filed a complaint with the state attorney general's office.
Gilrane has not returned messages left since the judge's order placing Empyrean into receivership.
But given the company's history and standing in the industry, Grossman, the receiver, is hopeful Empyrean will revive. He said several prospective buyers have already come forward.
"They make a great product, but I think the most amazing asset this company has, which you see so rarely, is committed people who have worked for the company for decades," he said. 