Fascinating photos show the plastic 1960s ‘house of the future’
FASCINATING photographs show the now-closed “House of the Future” that was once a huge attraction at Disney’s Tomorrowland.
FASCINATING photographs show the now-closed “House of the Future” that was once a huge attraction at Disney’s Tomorrowland.
The Monsanto House of the Future was an attraction at Disneyland California, from 1957 to 1967, and stunning snaps from Disney Avenue show the house in all its former glory, The Sun reports.
The 1200 square metre house was sponsored by the Monsanto Company and the house was created jointly by Monsanto, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Walt Disney Imagineering.
The futuristic fibreglass components of the attraction were assembled into the house on-site and the finished attraction offered a tour of a “home of the future”.
The house had been imagined to look like a home from the year 1986 — and featured household appliances such as microwaves and dishwashers that would eventually become commonplace in homes across the globe.
The living space was built from a plastic-walled, pod-like structure held up by a 1.5 square metre block of concrete.
The house attracted over 435,000 visitors within the first six weeks of opening in June 1967 and in time welcomed over 20 million tourists before being closed in December 1967.
The house initially stayed open during the introduction of New Tomorrowland in 1967 — but closed shortly after as attention was driven to new attractions.
However, the once popular building was so sturdy that demolition crews were initially unable demolish the house. The crews tried demolishing it using wrecking balls, torches, chainsaws and jackhammers — but eventually choker chains had to be used to crush the home into smaller parts.
The reinforced concrete foundation of the The Monsanto House of the Future was never removed and it is still there to this day in an area that is now the Pixie Hollow. The foundation has now been painted green and is currently in use as a planter.
Earlier this week, we revealed how Disney fans who get married in front of the famous castle can pay up to $189,000 (£140,000) for the experience and we also showed inside Walt Disney’s secret Club 33 where members pay $27,000 (£20,000) to enjoy booze, a jazz bar and luxury apartments.
This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission.
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