Monsanto House of the Future: When Our Future Was Made of Plastics

Monsanto House of the Future 1956
Monsanto House of the Future 1956

Built in Disneyland in 1957 as a joint project between Disneyland, Monsanto, and MIT, the House of the Future was constructed of 16 identical plastic shells that were fabricated off-site and then shipped to the building site for assembly.  The home was meant to display technological marvels, such as the microwave oven and speaker phone, but mainly showed the many ways that plastics could be incorporated into home-building of the future.  Materials included:  Acrylon, melamine, rayon, vinyl (flooring), and even plywood.  Each of the four wings was capable of supporting 13 tons.  Besides showing off the wonders of plastic, this was an attempt to build a home of fewer but large parts rather than the current (and still current) method of building homes of many small parts.

Floor Plans

Cross Section

Dimensions:  Each wing was 16 feet long and the utility core was itself a 16 foot square.  Thus, total length was 48 feet.

Disneyland Monsanto House of the Future - Cross Section with Dimensions
Disneyland Monsanto House of the Future – Cross Section with Dimensions

Under Construction

Exterior:  PR Materials and Tourist Images

Interior – Living Room

The living room was the swankiest area of the house, with a futuristic (and presumably non-functional TV) and both built-in and free-standing custom-made furniture that was curved to follow the curves of the house.

Interior – Family Room

The family room, like many mid-century modern homes of the time, had a family room, intended as a more casual place for family (meaning:  kids) to hang out in.  Since the house did not have a separate dining room area, this doubled as dining facilities.

Kitchen – Utility Core Area

The kitchen occupied the central section called the utility core and was by far the most technologically advanced room of the house with a microwave, ultrasonic dishwasher, cabinets that electrically descended from the ceiling, and not a refrigerator but a “cold zone” divided into three functional areas:  cool refrigeration, frozen, and cool irradiated food.

Interior – Second, or Children’s, (Divided) Bedroom

The second bedroom could be divided into two areas with a light-weight accordion door.

Interior – Master Bedroom and Vanity Area

The master bedroom occupied an entire quarter, or wing, of the House of the Future.  It had its own bathroom which, as a promotional film stated, was constructed out of just two pieces.  The bathroom had its own intercom and closed circuit TV system for communicating with callers at the front door.

By Lee Wallender

Deception, influence, fakes, illusions, themed environments, simulations, secret places, secret infrastructure, imagined places, dreamscapes, movie sets and props, evasions, camouflage, studio backlots, miniatures.

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