House of Plastics, the Future in 1957
There is a personal interest here. I had studied architectural design in high school as my main interest. Some of my plates did win mentions. I could design a house. My designs were black and white. An artist, I am not.
We went through wood shop, house framing. and drafting in high school. There were some valuable courses which Chicago’s Lane Technical High School could teach young male students (now coed). One Principal advocating the removal of these types of shops for students and it happened. The shops were removed. It is unfortunate as it could be of value to students today.
Plastics Today offers articles on use and manufacture of plastics. I find them of interest. I had planned plastic and rubber parts for automotive tier ones which supplied other tier ones and the automotive companies.
When Plastics Built the ‘House of the Future
Once Upon a Time, Plastics Built the ‘House of the Future’
“The floors on which you are walking, the gently sloping walls around you, and even the ceilings are made of plastics.”
Thus went the description of the Monsanto House of the Future, which beckoned visitors to tour its all-plastic interior at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA. It was a beacon of mid-century modernity in Tomorrowland from 1957, just a couple of years after the theme park opened, until 1967, when it was removed because the future had moved on. But for the better part of a decade, it fascinated park visitors with its cantilevered wings, seeming to float above the meticulous landscaping, and jet-age interior.
From MIT to the House of Mouse
The house was not dreamt up by Walt Disney’s renowned band of Imagineers, however, but was designed by faculty members of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“The house was the marriage of converging needs,” writes Lisa Scanlon in “The House of the Future that Wasn’t,” an article published in the Jan. 1, 2005, edition of MIT Technology Review. “During the early 1950s, homebuilders could barely keep up with demand as families moved to the suburbs. At the same time, Monsanto Chemical was looking for new markets for its plastic products. Seeing a business opportunity, the company sponsored research at MIT to design a low-cost, prefabricated house that would be made almost entirely of plastic.” The researchers suggested a rounded, Jetsons-worthy home — which delighted Monsanto. MIT researchers spent two years designing the 1,280-square-foot house, and in 1956, Monsanto built a full-scale prototype. “Meanwhile, Walt Disney was searching for exhibits for Disneyland, which had opened in 1955. He heard about the futuristic house and offered Monsanto space to display the prototype,” writes Scanlon.
Space-age design
The house consisted of a central square room with four wings, or rooms: A master bedroom, children’s bedroom, dining room, and living room. The kitchen and a bathroom were at the center. “Each wing was made of fiberglass modules placed one on top of the other to form the ceiling, floor, and a wall; the remaining two walls were windows,” writes Scanlon.
Space-age convenience was center stage in the kitchen, where most people caught their first glimpse of a microwave oven, and living room, dominated by a huge TV bolted to the wall that replicated the shape of the cathode ray tube display familiar to families at the time. But the unmistakable star of this entire attraction was the miracle material itself — plastic.
“It was the permanence, the durability of plastic that made the Monsanto house a marvel,” writes Bernard Cooper in his book Maps to Anywhere, referenced in the Disney Avenue website. “The wings, it was said, would never sag. The plastic floor would never buckle, chip, or crack.” At the time, 30% of Monsanto’s business was in plastics, synthetic resins, and surface coatings, adds Keith Michael Mahne, owner and editor of Disney Avenue.
More than 435,000 visitors ambled through the house within the first six weeks, and it ultimately welcomed more than 20 million visitors before being closed, according to Disney Avenue.
Out of time
By the mid-1960s, and even a little before to be honest, the vision of modernity represented by the House of the Future looked dated. It was torn down in December 1967, but not without a struggle. The planned one-day demolition stretched into two weeks, according to Yesterland, a website devoted to discontinued Disneyland attractions. The wrecking ball is said to have bounced off the exterior, and “workers had to painstakingly cut the house into pieces with hacksaws.”
Today, plastic is used throughout Disneyland, of course, to build rides and fuel imaginations, but it’s not called out as part of the attraction. And Monsanto, after a troubled history, was absorbed by Bayer in 2018 in a $63 billion buyout.
It is ironic, though, that the Jetsons-infused mid-century design of the House of the Future, which seemed like a relic in 1967, is once again trés chic in certain circles. Just a few miles northwest of Disneyland sits another icon from that era — the Theme Building at Los Angeles International Airport. In 2007, it was renovated at a cost of $12.3 million, ensuring its preservation for generations to come.
Norbert Sparrow
Not biodegradable like brick and wood.
Joel:
The plastic would probably emit fumes also. This is well before such was determined to be a public issue.
Makes for a good science fiction story. Other planets come to Earth and find only plastic structures remaining. No people.
We replaced our hardwood floor with an epoxy composite. That’s a type of plastic. It contains wood, but also a variety of bonding agents including epoxides. It has lasted much better than hardwood. Plastics bonding wood are used a fair bit in modern housing. I gather building codes now allow six floor wood frame buildings built using a variety of composites. Seattle is full of them as rentals and condos.
The walls are still gypsum dry wall, but when Disney was pushing its house of the future, walls were often lath and plaster with plaster covering wood slats. Our roof is ceramic, but wood shake roofs are rare. We had an amazing cedar shake roof on our lake house. It was from the private stock of the local lumberman who built it, but when it rotted out, we moved to metal.
I still find it amazing how many things are now made of plastic. When I was a kid, everything was wood, metal, glass, rubber or leather. Fuses had mica face plates. Now, it’s all plastic. It’s amazing stuff. (Our car’s bumpers are plastic. I’ve got to apply some touch up paint, but the body shop guy told me not to worry. It’s not going to rust.)
@Kaleberg,
My wife’s uncle used to build fishing boats on the Outer Banks using spruce and epoxy.
Our house in St. Louis was built in 1928. The walls were plaster and lathe. The floors were oak. No composite.
Our house in Rhode Island has wood shingle siding. I don’t know if the floors have epoxy. Most of the house was built in 1935, so I suspect not.
I owned a Saturn SL2 sedan for years. It had a plastic body. In the end, it wasn’t the exterior that made me abandon it. It was the cracked head that meant it wouldn’t pass emission inspection after 105K miles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dug-G9xVdVs
Joel:
Ouch on the cracked head. I had a Saturn ION which took me back and forth to school fifty miles away. It ran well. I gave it to my brother and it ran well for him too. They were not bad cars, just modest. Wood shingle siding? That is unique and probably common by you. Did they discuss maintaining them?
@Bill,
Wood shingle siding is common around here in Rumford RI. Back in University City MO, nearly all the houses had brick exterior.
Three years in, we had to have the siding power washed, since it’s so humid here.
Kaleburg:
We drive two old cars 2015 and 2013. Still made the old fashion way and still get good mileage. So we just keep them. I guess one of these times we will trade one in for a newer used vehicle. At 76 and 75, we probably don’t need two vehicles. Then what do we get? The Escape is good for carrying things and the Passat is a good highway, travel car.