I am sure that you sometimes get whacked with a “Whatever Happened to…?” question that just won’t fade away. Well, last night I was struck by “Whatever happened to the House of the Future at Disneyland in Anaheim?”. I am really interested in knowing what was inside that was supposed to make our life easier.
I started searching the net and found that there are over 7 gazzillion sites; most that I looked at concerned the fact that there was nothing “natural” in the house; it was constructed entirely in plastic. Ok, there is a story that the house originally built in 1956 was indestructible by wrecking balls. It had to be taken apart by hacksaws. This, of course, raises questions about the appropriateness of such buildings in hurricane/tornado areas - another subject for another time.
Like I said, I am really interested in knowing what 1956 future conveniences are now every day facts for us some 45 years later. Here are a few examples that I was able to find on the some two dozen sites visited today:
. The microwave oven - can’t live without mine.
. Wall mounted TV - I don’t have one but I like the look.
. There was no bidet - sigh, one of life’s wonderful inventions not included in the House of the Future and rarely found in American contemporary homes.
. I remember the picture telephone - or that might have been in the AT&T exhibit.
Do you remember what was inside this house that looked like a white yo-yo on its side with a quarter pie slice taken out? Like many of the website writers I came across, I used to imagine myself living in this type of house.
I was a little too young to care at the time. IIRC, it was dismantled in 1964 or 1965, and I was only about 6 at the time. But I do have fond memories of a photospread on that very house, which was published in that classic Time Life volume of introductory polymer chemistry Giant Molecules*. At any rate I marvelled at the pictures of that house, and the text elsewhere in the book which suggested that by this time none of us would have a natural fiber anywhere on our persons or in our homes.
I’m pretty miffed that I don’t live in a geodesic dome or donut house too.
Where’s all that shiny silver-colored clothing we’re supposed to be wearing, anyhow? How come I can’t get food pills in the supermarket?
Surprisingly, the 2001 version of the “house of the future,” from what I’ve seen, tends to resemble 1920s Craftsman style bungalows, only with updated floorplans.
The House of the Future has been revived, sort of; Buzz Lightyear lives in it. (I can’t find a link to an image of Buzz’s house, but I’ve seen it in more than one episode and it definitely looks like the HoF.)
For a very bizarre guest appearance by the House of the Future, try to find a mid-60’s book named “The World of Ted Serios” by Dr. Jule Eisenbud. One of Serios’ “thoughtographs” is very obviously an early sketch of THOTF.
