House of the Future, October 1958

Today I am happy to share this "postcard worthy" photo of Monsanto's House of Future. It originally opened on June 12, 1957, so by now it was just over one year old, and it looks great! You can see two women making their way through the house, and exploring the wonders within.

Wikipedia describes the HOF as "a plastic house with four wings cantilevered from a central plinth. This too had its precursors at World's Fairs, though in those cases they were simply homes with modern conveniences and aimed at housewives. Aside from displaying 'modern' conveniences such as picture phones and television remote controls, this house introduced many people to their first microwave oven."

While Monsanto intended the house to be a prediction of what life would be like in 1987, some of its future wonders have still not become part of our everyday lives...such as ultrasonic dishwashers and atomic food preservation (I know irradiated food exists, but it is not common...). I guess that a house that looks like this would be described as "dated" by today's standards, but it is dated in the same way a classic car is. It has character and style that you certainly don't see in todays tract homes and adobe-colored apartment buildings.