It Was Fifty Years Ago Today: Monsanto House of the Future
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06.12.07
It was 50 years ago, June 12, 1957, that the Monsanto House of the Future opened at Disneyland. It was an inspiration for young aspiring architects everywhere, as we described in an earlier post "a glimpse of carefree futuristic living inside a plastic-walled floating cruciform structure with picture phones, height-adjustable sinks, dishes washed by ultrasonic waves, and atomic food preservation."
While it was shortsighted of Disney to destroy it in 1967, the wonderful film, a vision of the future where a young family is transported from the linup into the future, where they live in the house with all its plastic wonders, survives on youtube, part 2 below the fold. Thanks, ::Chrisopher, for the reminder.
What a riot ... we've truly come full circle, as natural materials such as bamboo and marble flooring, wood window frames, and granite countertops, are considered the very best.
Nick Kasoff
The Thug Report
Oh man. I guess the next segment to these videos is how little Mary Sue will be battling her cancer. Looking back to this age of chemical wonders is fairly disgusting, even though I'm sure they had good intentions.
I can't wait for push-button speaker phones!
Seems like a Dupont or Dow sponsored project.
Ahhh, the future looked great in 1957, better than it does now.
so true in so many ways, but they did get one thing so wrong.... did you notice that there was *real* food in the fridge? no soft drinks and packet food
The house of the future will be...
a mud hut