Tour the House of the Future

I don't think I ever actually visited the "House of the Future" in Disneyland when it was there from 1957 to 1967.  The first time I went to the theme park was probably in 1967, but I was too young to remember that trip at all; so if we toured the house (if, indeed it was still open) I have no recollection of it.

I have been interested in mid-century plastics for many years probably because of the wealth of intriguing possibilities they represented when they were introduced in the 1940s and 1950s. The "House of the Future" seemed to represent a convergence of thought in plastics design as it existed then, and the hopes of so many for the future of plastics design.

Of course, it was torn down sometime in 1967 and has been sorely missed ever since.

For many years I have collected everything I could find about this once-great house that (all these years later) still represents so much hope for the future of design.

Recently, in honor of the house's 55th anniversary (12 June), I assembled a little video using the actual attraction narration. I have combined as many color photographs as I could find (the existing films of the house are all in black and white) along with original design sketches, images from brochures, magazines of the time and a few images that just plain people took of the house. It provides a little background on the house and shows the various rooms as you would have seen them in the tour.