The Monsanto House of the Future was a Disneyland attraction sponsored by Monsanto Company and today let's have a tribute to the "House of the future" with pictures and a real treasure video!
The attraction offered a tour of a home of the future, set in the year 1986, Built of plastics, a revolutionary material at that time, the four wing"ultra-modern" House of the Future was on display from 1957 to 1967 at the entrance of Tomorrowland.The House of the Future featured the latest in furniture and appliances along with intercoms and other gadgets that were not common in 1957. For instance, it featured household appliances such as microwave ovens, which eventually were invented and became commonplace.
The house survived the introduction of New Tomorrowland in 1967, but closed shortly after, as Monsanto's attention shifted to their new sponsored attraction, Adventure Thru Inner Space. The building was so sturdy, that when demolition crews tried to knock out walls with a wrecking ball, the ball bounced off. Hacksaws were required to take the building apart, piece by piece.
However, it didn't remove all the house. The support pillars were rated for earthquakes, so when the construction reached them, most couldn't be removed. These few remaining pillars are still visible in Neptune's Grotto, the location of the exterior gardens of the house.
This last picture shows the great replica designed by Kevin Kidney and Jody Daily for Disney shopping.com for Disneyland 50th anniversary
And now, here is a great document with this two part Monsanto video that will show you how amazing - specially in 1960's - the House of the Future was. Don't miss it, it's just like if you were there, inside the House of the Future, 50 years ago!
Thanks to leave a comment or discuss this article on D&M english forum on Mice Chat
Photos: copyright Disney
Video: copyright Monsanto and Disney
All my thanks to Macmouse4 for the great Youtube video
I remember when this opened in 1957 and how it influenced the home design and construction bussiness. Intercom systems, flourescent overhead lighting, formica table and countertops, built in kitchen components and Hi Fi systems. I see it has a chimney so I was looking for the fireplace, but that may have been just for the kitchen stove and oven. It's too bad it could not have been disassembled or craned off its foundation in 1967. I had heard that a New House of the Future was coming back to Disneyland?
ReplyDeletefantastic videos :) i love ! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this article.
Very beautiful house :)
Dont forget the area around the old HOTF foundation was called "Alpine Gardens" for many years.
ReplyDeleteGreat story!
I think it's interesting that there was no mention of computers. Weren't they predicting home robots and flying cars and trips to the moon back then?
ReplyDeleteSeems so quaint, so modest.
Of course, their vision of a plastics future was so wrong. Plastics aren't "green". They don't decompose and they're hard to recycle. Heating them up releases toxins. Burning plastic releases deadly fumes.
I saw a movie from the same era that promoted plastics made from soy and sugar cane. Too bad they didn't pursuit it.